Beating odds of one in 4.7 billion, woman welcomes sextuplets in Rawalpindi

A young woman has normally delivered healthy sextuplets at Rawalpindi District Headquarters Hospital — which is extremely rare as the odds of giving birth to six babies at the same time are estimated at one in 4.7 billion, Geo News reported on Friday.

The mother, Zeenat Bibi, and father Waheed — residents of Hazara Colony — are extremely delighted after the miraculous birth of sextuplets — four boys and two girls.

According to doctors, the birth weights of babies, who are in robust health, are normal and the mother is also doing well.

The babies will continue getting medical care at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) until cleared to go home.

Sextuplets do not occur naturally, and although the popularity of fertility drugs in recent years has increased the chance of such large multiple births, many doctors warn that they are best avoided.

There are different types of sextuplets. Some are fraternal, meaning they come from six separate egg and sperm combinations. Others are identical, which happens when a single fertilised egg splits into multiple embryos, according to verywellfamily.com.

Sometimes, that splitting can occur more than once, leading to identical triplets or even sextuplets, although no cases of the latter have been confirmed. Also, among sextuplets, there can be sets of identical twins within the group.

Sextuplets can be all boys, all girls, or a mix of both. Identical multiples will always share the same gender.

Amid all the happiness, the biggest challenges for the family have only just started as taking care of one newborn is an endless job for parents and here, they have six to tend to.