The record for bearing the most children, whose name has been lost to history, is Mrs Vassilyev, from Russia. She popped out 16 pairs of twins, 7 set of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets, over 27 pregnancies. 69 children in grand total.
She would have been pregnant for 18 years in total. To make it short, these are the numbers: 4 x 4 = 16, 7 x 3 = 21, 16 x 2 = 32, 27 births, 69 children.
The BBC went as far as doing the math of how long it really took for her to bear that many babies? Is it really possible, or just sounds good in theory? What would their lives looked like back then that made it conductive for someone to have 60+ babies, including set of twins, triplets, and quadruplets (besides having enough opportunities to have an intercourse with their husbands).
Well, to quote James Segars, director of the Division of Reproductive Science and Women’s Health Research at Johns Hopkins University, “Would she have 27 pregnancies in the 40 year-span? The answer? Yes. You have to consider that the triplets and quadruplets are usually birthed after shorter-than-average terms.”
So that’s off the list, phew.
He made additional rough calculations, “16 twins times 37 weeks; seven triplets times 32 weeks; four quadruplets times 30 weeks. Add it up, and Mrs Vassilyev would have been pregnant for 18 years of the 40 years – half of the time, or two-decades-worth of craving pickles and ice cream.”
However, there are various reg-flags that make people dismiss Mrs. Vassilyev’s tale. One, back in the 18th century, although people were known to have many kids, some of them, or many, won’t survive past their infancy stage, let alone for her to have 69 children, with all of them surviving until later. Another reason being, what could have possibly motivated her to want to do this? Afterall, raising that many kids is nothing but imagining a house of insanity.
Perhaps, this is the reason why her husband, Feodor Vassilyev, left her and remarried a second wife, with whom he went on to have ‘only’ 18 children. The numbers are 6 x 2 = 12, 2 x 3 = 6, 8 births, 18 children.
Mrs Vassilyev went on to live upto the age of 75, and died in 1782, the same year as her ex-husband.
