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A multiple birth is when more than one human baby results from a single pregnancy. The most common form of multiple birth is twins (two babies), but cases of triplets (three), quadruplets (four), quintuplets (five), sextuplets (six), septuplets (seven), octuplets (eight), and nonuplets (nine) have all been recorded with all siblings being born alive. There are no known instances of live births of decaplets (ten), undecaplets (eleven) or duodecaplets (twelve).Multiple births can occur either naturally (the woman ovulates multiple eggs or the fertilized egg splits into two) or as the result of infertility treatments (several embryos are usually implanted to compensate for their lower viability). For reasons that are unknown, the older a woman is, the more likely she is to naturally have a multiple birth.
There are two types of multiple births, fraternal and identical. Identical siblings arise where one egg is fertilised and the resulting zygote splits into more than one embryo. Identical siblings therefore have the same genetic material. Fraternal siblings result from the fertilisation and implantation of more than one egg, so fraternal siblings are not genetically identical.
The number of multiple births has increased over the last decades. For example, in Canada, between 1979 and 1999, the number of multiple birth babies increased 35%. Most of the increase can probably attributed to using in vitro fertilisation techniques.
Recent increases over the last few years in the number of multiple births have also provoked concern; the greater the number of babies in a single pregnancy, the more likely they are to have a low birth weight, to be born prematurely and to consequently suffer medical problems. For example, in 1999, 53% of babies in multiple births were premature, compared to 7% of singletons. [1] There is also a higher rate of stillbirths for multiples than for singletons.
Certain cultures consider multiple births a portent of either good or evil. A North Korean tradition that states that triplets are 'lucky' has led to the seizure of all sets of triplets born in North Korea, apparently out of leader Kim Jong Il's fear that one may overthrow him in the future.
1 List of famous multiple births
- The Dionne quintuplets (born on May 28, 1934) were the first quintuplets known to survive their infancy.
- The Rosenkowitz sextuplets (born on January 11, 19741974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). Events January-February January 5 Dungeons & Dragons officially released. February 4 Patricia Hearst, the 19 year old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped in Cape TownCape Town ( Afrikaans: Kaapstad , is one of South Africa's three capital cities serving as the legislative capital ( Pretoria being the executive capital and Bloemfontein the judicial capital). It is also the capital of the Western Cape province. It is mo, South AfricaSouth Africa is a republic at the southern tip of Africa. It is bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the north-east by Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho is contained entirely inside the borders of South Africa. South Africa is one o) were the first sextuplets known to survive their infancy.
- The Walton sextuplets (born on November 11November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. Events 1215 The fourth lateran council meets, adopting the doctrine of transubstantiation, meaning that bread and wine are transformed into t, 1983Events January January 1 Beat Raaflaub became Basel Boys Choir's new conductor January 1 the ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet. January 1 compulsory wearing of seat belts becomes law in the UK. January 2 The mu in LiverpoolFor alternate uses of "Liverpool" see Liverpool (disambiguation Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside in north west England, on the north side of the Mersey estuary. Liverpool is governed by Liverpool City Council, one of five council) were the first sextuplets born in the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly known to survive their infancy.
- The Frustaci septuplets (born on May 21May 21 is the 141st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (142nd in leap years). There are 224 days remaining. Events 996 Sixteen year old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1674 John Sobieski is elected by the nobility to be the King of Poland., 1985) were the first septuplets to be born in the United States. Only three babies survived.
- The Dilley sextuplets (born on May 25, 1993 in Indianapolis) were the first surviving sextuplets to be born in the United States.
- The McCaughey septuplets (born on November 19, 1997) were the world's first surviving set of septuplets.
- The Humair septuplets (born on January 14, 1998 in Abha , Saudi Arabia) were the world's second surviving set of septuplets, born to a 40-year-old mother.
- The Chukwu octuplets (born in December 1998 in Houston) were the first set of octuplets born in the United States. The smallest of the octuplets, Odera, died a week after birth.
- The Qahtani septuplets (born on July 12, 2001 in Washington, DC) were the third set of septuplets to live past infancy.
