(YAHOO NEWS) A woman from Uganda has given birth to a jaw-dropping 38 children, and surprisingly she is only 37 years old.
The mother, Mariam Nabatanzi, has delivered all her children at home except her latest addition who is now four months old, reports the Nairobi News.
The newborn had to be delivered by caesarean section at a local hospital.
The mother has reportedly given birth to an astounding six sets of twins, four sets of triplets and three sets of quadruples.
Ten of the children are girls and the remaining 28 are boys.
The eldest of the brood is 23 years old and the youngest just four months.
The mother of 38 claims she was married off by age 12 in 1993 to a much older 40-year-old man.
“I did not know I was being married off,” she told the publication.
“People came home and brought things for my father. When time came for them to leave, I thought I was escorting my aunt but when I got there, she gave me away to the man.”
Being a child herself she told how she found married life at such a young age difficult.
“My husband was polygamous with many children from his past relationships who I had to take care of because their mothers were scattered all over. He was also violent and would beat me at any opportunity he got even when I suggested an idea that he didn’t like,” she recalled to the publication.
In 1994, only a year into her marriage and aged 13 she gave birth to twins.
Two years later, she gave birth to triplets and a year and seven months after that added a set of quadruplets.
By her sixth delivery the mother had 18 children and wanted to stop.
Nabatanzi was told by a doctor that she had an usually high ovary count.
Dr Charles Kiggundu, a gynecologist at Mulago Hospital and President of gynaecologists and obstetricians said, “Her case is genetic predisposition to hyper-ovulate (releasing multiple eggs in one cycle), which significantly increases the chance of having multiples; it is always genetic.”
Following the most recent birth four month ago she says; “I asked the doctor to stop me from more births and he said he had ‘cut my uterus from inside’. This was my only Cesarean delivery because I was still weak from the sickness I suffered when I tried to use an IUD.”
Despite all the challenges she has suffered in her short life the mother of 38 is optimistic about seeing her children through school and making sure they are all educated properly.
“I am hopeful that my children will go to school because they all have big ambitions of being doctors, teachers and lawyers; I want them to realise these dreams, something I was not able to do.”
