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The greatest officially recorded number of children born to one mother is 69, to the wife of Feodor Vassilyev, a peasant from Shuya, Russia. In a total of 27 confinements between 1725 and 1765, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of quadruplets (the greatest number of multiple births in one family). Only two of the children failed to survive their infancy. The world's most prolific living mother is believed to be Leontina Albina from San Antonio, Chile, who reproduced her 55th and last child in 1981. Her husband stated that they were married in Argentina in 1943 and had five sets of triplets (all boys) before moving to Chile.
In 1971, Dr. Gennaro Montanino from Rome, Italy, claimed to have removed the fetuses of ten girls and five boys from the womb of a 35-year-old woman after four months of the pregnancy. A fertility drug was responsible for this unique instance of quindecouplets.
In September 1996 17-month-old Zack strenkert, one of the largest babies in the world, made an appearance on 'The Jerry Springer Show' with his parents Chris and Lourie from Goshen, New York, USA. He weighed in at an astonishing 31.75 kgs - the weight reached by boys at any age between six and 14. Zeck's elder brother, Andrew, weighed 55 kg at the age of seven.
Peggy Lynn of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA, gave birth,Hanna, at the Geisinger Medical Center, Sanville Pennsylvania, USA, on November 11, 1995. She gave birth to Hanna's twin, Eric 84 days later, on February 1996.
