Mariam Nabatanzi Babirye is a 37-year-old woman from Uganda who has set the internet on fire with her one in a million story. This woman has given birth to a whopping 38 children and it is mind boggling.
The villagers, from where she hails from, have already given her a nickname, Nalongo Muzaala Bana, which means “the twin mother who produces quadruplets.”
If you already dismissing this news as false since it sounds really impossible for a 37-year old to give birth to 30 children, let me explain how she arrived at this incredible figure. Mariam has six sets of twins, four sets of triplets, three sets of quadruplets and two single births.
In a recent interview with a Ugandan daily, she said: “My father gave birth to 45 children with different women and [they] all came in quintuplets, quadruplets, twins and triplets. Mariam says her father had 45 children, many of whom came in quintuplets, quadruplets and twins.
Dr Charles Kiggundu, a gynecologist at Mulago Hospital confirms that Mariam may have taken after her father, as her case may be genetic. He said: “Her case is genetic predisposition to hyper-ovulate (releasing multiple eggs in one cycle), which significantly increases the chance of having multiples.”
Mariam said she was married off at an early age and she gave birth for the first time at the age of 13 to twins. She said she sought medical advice several times in a bid to stop having children but doctors advised her that since she produces so many eggs, it would be dangerous to her health.
However, Dr Kiggundu said Mariam was not well advised, because doctors could easily have performed tubal ligation as a permanent method of contraception.
Moreover, Mariam has a non-supportive husband who is rarely there for her and her children. Her eldest son, Charles Musisi, 23, confirmed: “Our siblings do not know what father looks like. I last saw him when I was 13 years old and only briefly at night because he rushed off again.”
Mariam used the rare media platform to advised parents not allow their children into early marriages and also implored men to take care of their wives and children.
In the meantime, can Guinness Book of Record make a space for this ‘warrior’ as the record holder for the most birth within a relatively short time?
