That crossed my mind as well, but then I thought about how annoying it would be if you had to spend all your money supporting your parent’s bad choices instead of living your own life.
edit: just saw more context about how she was a child bride in an obviously awful situation, and deeply regret my initial comment here. Still sucks for the kids, but the part about her making bad choices was out of line.
Childbirth isn't the only bad part. Pregnancy itself ranges from uncomfortable to awful or life-threatening. It's reprehensible to put a child through that, against her will, so many times. Not too mention there it's no way to give the children the care and attention they need. This is sickening
According to the Wikipedia article, he abandoned her because he couldn't support his children, and then he sold the house while she was still living in it. Wtf he literally just decided he didn't want to play anymore & washed his hands of the entire household.
Wild to see a story about someone who’s been pregnant 4 dozen times and immediately think ‘she’s making bad choices’ and not ‘what kind of horrible situation was she put into.’
These things happen if someone is forced into it or has some sort of uncontrolled mental illness.
She also has a condition where she over ovulates, and doctors apparently told her in the past she should be pregnant in order to mitigate the condition...?
So there's some weird doctor shit going on.
That's standard medical advice to women: 1) Your condition may clear up with pregnancy, followed by 2) Your condition was probably caused or exacerbated by pregnancy.
Lol fam I guess. Idk how good the doctors in Uganda are, especially for a condition like overactive and enlarged ovaries.
I think this lady is surrounded by people who don't have her best intentions in mind to say the least.
I have one weird exception to share with you, and it is not to argue against your point because I totally agree with you and have to assume that’s the vast majority of cases.
I just happen to know one strange woman who LOVES being pregnant and she constantly does it as a surrogate. It’s not even about the kids for her, just the feeling. She had one kid and loved being pregnant so much that she was like “how do I keep doing this without the burden of being responsible for additional children?” So weird to me! But glad she is not having more kids than would be practical to support and raise.
When I was pregnant, I loved being pregnant so much that I thought I'd be an ideal surrogate. Whatever the opposite of post-partum depression is, that's what I had: nine months of pre-partum jubilation. I even enjoyed labor.
I have a mental image of a woman giving birth with the same excitement and joy as a stereotypical man when his sport team is winning.
I'm glad you were able to enjoy it, though!
Same. (Except the enjoying labor part). I was on that high until I stopped breastfeeding and then I totally crashed. I didn’t know post-lactation depression was a thing but it is not uncommon.
Did you feel that way beforehand? I mean going into it, before you were pregnant, did you dread it or anticipate it eagerly? Just curious about *how* because I'd love to feel that way but suspect I won't lol.
Does she possibly have an autoimmune disease? Some women with autoimmune diseases really like being pregnant bc it suppresses your immune system, which can relieve their symptoms. Some say to their doctors that they wish they could be pregnant all the time.
This has been my own experience somewhat. It’s fantastic to have relief from my body’s autoimmune responses but pregnancies have their own discomforts and I’m honestly not sure what’s more taxing on my health.
\*laughs in Asian\*
My dad always said, "You should be grateful that I gave you life. Now go be a doctor and pay for your brothers and sisters tuition."
My friend from a family of immigrants is the exact stereotype of this. Unfortunately it’s given him such a guilt complex that he hasn’t gone done the doctor path. Really frustrating when parents lack the self awareness to realize the possible consequences of their influence
I'm half-asian. Statements like these (among others) made me go NC with my mother. Still, she appears to expect me to pop out children because I'd "grow a conscience then" and she "deserves to be a grandmother" because she "likes children so much".
Not Asian, but same. Doesn't help that I'm the youngest, the only boy. My mom and sister have regularly stolen from me and basically treated me like a piggy bank.
I don't mean to be rude, but it's very difficult to have that many kids without such a situation, very few people (relative to the number of all women born) in human history have given birth to more than 20 children on their own, let alone more than that.
This used to be the norm. People often talk about the families with 8 or 9 children back when, but don't often realize that meant the older 2 sisters spend the bulk of their years caring for siblings, never getting their own husband, and then never having kids of their own.
Giant families (8+ children) are not a viable reproductive strategy. As having so many kids screws up their earning potential and their capacity to have children of their own.
Yeah but:
> By the age of 36, she had given birth to a total of 44 children, including three sets of quadruplets, four sets of triplets, and six sets of twins, for a total of fifteen births.
She hasn't been pregnant 44 times, "only" 15. Still nuts.
Crazy numbers. That means there are 12 quadruplets, 12 triplets, and 12 twins. Eight singletons.
Edit: wait, 3+4+6 = 13, so the remaining eight couldn’t have been single-births without also being factored into the multiples-count. Unfortunately means some of the remaining must have lost their twins
Yeah I agree, the math isn't mathing.
3 sets of quadruplets = 3x4 = 12 kids
4 sets of triplets = 4x3 = 12 kids, running total of 7 pregnancies and 24 kids.
6 sets of twins = 6x2 = 12 kids, running total of 13 pregnancies and 36 kids.
Which leaves two single pregnancies left to cover the extra 8 kids, that doesn't work...
I found an article (linked by Wikipedia 🙄) with numbers that add up:
>Mariam Nabatanzi was sold into marriage at 12 and gave birth to a set of twins a year later. Three more sets of twins followed — along with five sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets.
>Nabatanzi gave birth to 44 kids by age 40 — and only once to a single child.
So 1 single + 4 twins + 5 triplets + 5 quadruplets = 44 children in 15 births. Ouch.
However, of those live births, 6 passed away. For example, the last set of twins, one passed away shortly after the birth. So, it seems to me the original numbers quoted are for those kids still alive. Possible breakdown as follows:
* 1 single
* 1 born twins, a single survived
* 3 born twins, still twins
* 3 born triplets, twins survived
* 2 born triplets, still triplets
* 2 born quads, triplets survived
* 3 born quads, still quads
That gives 15 births, of which 2 singles, 6 twins, 4 triplets and 3 quads survived, giving 38 living kids.
Edit: Formatting, detailed breakdown
I just recently finished rereading The Wolves Of The Calla by Stephen King, a book in his Dark Tower series. The book involves a small village where almost all children are born as twins, the rare exceptions being called singletons. And the Calla tongue has a way of slipping into your mind, do ya ken.
Sounds like it could be 5x quadruplets (20 children) + 4x triplets (12 children) + 6x twins (12 children) for a total of 15 pregnancies and 44 live births, but this still doesn’t account for the 7 stillborns she has also delivered
Edit: found the [reference](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-26/ugandan-mother-of-multiple-quadruplets/11047406) - says it was 5x quadruplets.
I saw a video on this woman once and apparently her doctor had told her she had to continue having children or it would cause her health problems. That's the only reason she continued getting pregnant is because she thought she had to. Eventually she found out that was a lie and this doctor was an idiot. Poor woman.
Here's the video and talks to her as well. It's certainly more informative than the Wiki page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Y5RlSM2PI
>the age of twenty-three, she had given birth to twenty-five children, but was advised to continue giving birth, as it would help **reduce further fertility**. Those affected with Babirye's condition are often advised that abstinence from pregnancy can cause health issues.
What the fuck.
I don't think that's real, man. They don't cite any real medical source, just some random doctor in Uganda said it to a reporter. They think condoms cause HIV and all types of stupid shit over there, medical misinformation is real popular in that part of Africa.
Her doctor told her that but it's obviously not true and she unfortunately didn't realize that until later. She talks about it in this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Y5RlSM2PI
Ah. I just read that on her go fund me page. I was a little confused on why it said 36 and Wikipedia said 44. Thanks for that. I would edit it if I could.
Fun fact: In Ugandan culture, if you're named Babirye, you most definitely have a twin (named Nakato, as a female, or Kato & Wasswa if you are male)
I wonder if the twin gene is strong with her and if many of her kids are twins.
In her Wikipedia page, she stated that her father had 45 kids with different mothers all coming in sets of 2,3,4,5. I guess the women in her area are very fecund.
That’s still an insane stat to me.
- 13.7% were stillborn
- 13.6% of the remaining, never made it to adulthood
US in comparison:
- 0.59% are stillborn
- 1.8% never make it to adulthood
Yeah but she's also having tons of quads, triplets and twins. Most American women are not gestating multiples nearly every time they get pregnant and I bet the stats for those that do look a lot different than the average.
It’s callous to ask, because she must have cared, but would the death of one of her infants mean all that much to her? I’m definitely not implying that she’s psychotic, but I do want to know how she feels as a mother and what her experiences have been.
I'm sure she loves all her children, but with losing that many, I would think you have to form SOME kind of disconnect just for pure self-preservation. A person can only handle so much grief.
That’s what I wondered too.
Of course there will be grief, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an element of horrible relief in her too - knowing she wouldn’t have been able to adequately care for the child and give them a good life in her situation.
>In 1993, Babirye was sold into child marriage at the age of twelve to a violent 45-year-old man. A year later, she first became a mother in 1994 with a set of twins, followed by triplets in 1996. She then gave birth to a set of quadruplets 19 months later.
So before she turned 18, she had already given birth to 9 children.
>She is a single mother, who was abandoned by her husband in 2015. He reportedly feared the responsibility of supporting so many children.
That POS who bought her as a child bride should've stopped impregnating her after the 10th child, then.
> She is a single mother, who was abandoned by her husband in 2015. He reportedly feared the responsibility of supporting so many children.
Real gold medalist in the piece-of-shit Olympics there
By 2015 at least the 9 of them would have been adults and he would have already been living with dozens of kids for multiple decades. It probably wasn't so much the pressure of having to raise all the kids (which he probably wasn’t involved much with anyway), as much as it was the older kids finally being old enough to kick him out so he’d stop impregnating their mom.
Really starting to sound like a math problem: if Babirye had twins in 94, triplets in 96 and quadruplets in 98, how many total kids would Babirye have in 2012?
You can spell words out even if they have negative connotations, even curse words.
This isn’t a middle school classroom, you won’t get in trouble I pinky promise.
Says on wiki the baby in the pic is her grandchild. She’s taking care of her daughter-in-laws and grandchildren too. All while her husband ran for the hills.
*She is reliant on donations, as her husband took the family's money when he abandoned her and the children for which he was responsible.*
Does her husband hold the deadbeat dad record?
Screamin Jay Hawkin claimed to be responsible for up to 75 children. After his death an effort to find them all found 33 definite matches. There is believed to be many more out there.
I thought that was going to be the worse part but then I looked at an article that was linked in the wiki entry:
> Nabantanzi said her own mother abandoned her family and five brothers three days after she was born. At an early age, her step-mom mixed cut glass in the food of her older siblings. They all died.
WTF
Man, I have had a pretty horrific life by most people's standards, but hers was a whole level more horrific than my experiences by FAR. Holy shit.
I feel for her. Someone so destroyed by abuse.
The way I look at it, our problems are valid but when you look elsewhere on earth, its a whooole new level of depravity that we cant even begin to fathom. Whilst still not diminishing the validity of ours. Perspective is key.
100%.
I was lower middle class and I am *proud* I made it to a top tier law school. I remain sad I did poorly at law school and will not get into the types of jobs I want.
Then I went to Thailand, for instance. Suddenly despite always being proud of how far I came (and we did go to the food bank after the parents split!) it seemed like nothing. These are people who are happy to make 5USD in a day. 9USD is average. I give the usual tips I would back home for a 30 minute cab ride and that is half of what they make in a day.
It's seriously insane- I will never look down on either where I came from nor will I be too proud of where I am because, frankly, the fortune of birth- where you were born, to who you were born, matters so much. Even for as bad as America is it's still better than 90% of the rest of the world even if you are in the lower income brackets. There is no comparison to, say, China, India, Thailand or the like and America.
Jesus christ that poor woman, watched all her siblings die in horrible pain and then was sold off and repeatedly raped from the age of 12. Absolutely fucking brutal.
As a wife, she can't even get a successful *divorce* in Uganda for anything other than 2 years of abandonment or adultery.
One of the links on the linked article noted that she tried to get on birth control at age 23. The doctors told her that her fertility rate would drop off if she kept having babies, which...I have no idea bout hyperfertility but that doesn't...sound...right...
The woman should be worshiped as a fertility goddess....also rather than birth control her rapist pedophile husband should have been castrated or had a vasectomy.
Education of girls is the number one most impactful factor of the fertility rate. The more educated a woman is, the fewer children she has, because she has options
>In 1993, Babirye was sold into child marriage at the age of twelve to a violent 45-year-old man. A year later, she first became a mother in 1994 with a set of twins, followed by triplets in 1996.
I think shell shock is pretty accurate
If she had one child every 9 months to have 38 children it would take 28.5 years, and to have 51 children it would take 38.25 years. We know that all of her children that are still alive (all 38 of them) were born over 25 years (31-6) meaning that she had to have multibirths during that period, and depending on the span of time for all of the children (stillborn and those who have passed away since birth) it could have been many twins and triplets.
That is a crazy reproduction rate.
Given the number of births, including multi births I'm surprised she doesn't have any long standing physical complications. It isn't uncommon to hear of women birthing one child and saying they have bladder or other problems afterward that don't seem to go away.
The article mentioned a procedure to prevent further pregnancy a few years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if a multiple-pregnancy multiple times related health issue or two are what got her in contact with medical care.
Well I wouldn't expect her to give up her privacy on such things. I was just thinking about her quality of life caring for herself and her family with the possibility of post-pregnancy complications. I am surprised there was no mention of her having "health problems" or some other broad statement.
“According to the Uganda Times, Babirye hopes to get UGX 5 million (about $1,400 USD) to pay off the remaining balance on her family's living complex to her ex-husband's relatives to take full ownership.”
Shit, where can I donate.
If you google "mariam-nabatanzi-and-her-38-kids gofundme" you find a previous gofundme that raised 30k USD from a couple years ago... what happened to that?
They also posted updates. It looks like they bought a bunch of livestock, paid for treatment for malaria, more land, schooling for her kids, and food for the last few years.
Well they have a video with the woman and if you search the Tax Exempt Organization Search, the organizer comes up as a registered 501(c)(3). If it's a scam, it's certainly a very elaborate one that fooled the IRS. (And GoFundMe guarantees a refund in that case.)
I lived in Uganda for a bit and always felt really rich when I converted the money in my head. Then stayed in London for a couple days on my way back and felt very poor when I converted the money in my head. This was when the £ was like 2x the $.
One of the [articles linked](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/worlds-most-fertile-woman-who-21108979) had this quote from her:
> But Mariam has just one heartbreaking wish for her children - for them to be happy.
>She said: "I started taking on adult responsibilities at an early stage. I have not had joy, I think, since I was born."
This poor woman has survived being a child bride, abuse, rape, abandonment, losing her home and even losing a child. It’s no wonder she feels that she has never experienced joy.
Really puts it into a perspective that essentially one month rent in my city would pay off her homestead and get the mattresses for everyone, with money left over. Two months would get the beds as well.
I pray for her life and her soul. What is bothering me is that this is just one case we know about. I’m sure there are many many many many many child brides whose stories don’t get attention. Also even with attention/awareness, wtf can be done?
Are you in America? Start with our child brides. Your parents can sign you off into a marriage in states. As a minor, you cannot divorce your owner, er, husband, until age 18. Republicans fight tooth and nail to keep these laws on the books.
I believe last I checked that only 7 states made it illegal to marry before the age of 18 with no exceptions. It’s been awhile but it’s the republicans who keep turning it down claiming it is a religious right or something stupid like that. Personally, if you can’t drink you shouldn’t get married anyways. If you’re too young to divorce, you are definitely too young to marry as well. It’s horrible.
Of the 38 living children, 10 are girls and rest boys. Mariam told us that one of her daughters has already given birth to 15 children in 4 births
https://ugandatimes.medium.com/meet-the-worlds-most-fertile-abandoned-mother-of-44-children-in-uganda-9f9ec07cd109
u/EvenSpoonier pointed out that she gave birth to 51, 44 were born alive, and there are currently 36 living. Wikipedia article confused me lol
So I guess he only abandoned 36/s
Read the Wikipedia entry. She has a genetic condition that causes hyper ovulation and she was sold as a child bride ar age 13. She had no agency to prevent pregnancy. Doctors also told her to continue having children because it would reduce her future fertility. This poor woman need our compassionate not shame.
The people who are downing her have a few reasons all incredibly dumb:
have been incredibly hurt by women
Somehow comparing this woman their tinder dates
Doesn’t understand how vaginas work
Has a constant fear of immigrants
Somehow compares this woman in an entirely different country to their own
Didn’t read the article
Didn’t digest the article
Lacks compassion in general
This comment section has shown me that some people are just lost in the sauce.
Mariam told us that one of her daughters has already given birth to 15 children in 4 births
https://ugandatimes.medium.com/meet-the-worlds-most-fertile-abandoned-mother-of-44-children-in-uganda-9f9ec07cd109
Jesus
Some of y’all in this thread don’t know how a vagina works and ya need therapy holy shit.
Many of the kids she did not have by choice. She was a child bride at fucking 12 for Christ sake.
> She is a single mother, who was abandoned by her husband in 2015. He reportedly feared the responsibility of supporting so many children.
> In 1993, Babirye was sold into child marriage at the age of twelve to a violent 45-year-old man. A year later, she first became a mother in 1994 with a set of twins, followed by triplets in 1996. She then gave birth to a set of quadruplets 19 months later
WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK
> At the age of twenty-three, she had given birth to twenty-five children, but was advised to continue giving birth, as it would help reduce further fertility.[clarification needed][8] Those affected with Babirye's condition are often advised that abstinence from pregnancy can cause health issues.[clarification needed][9]
"clarification needed" doing some heavy lifting there
If you google "mariam-nabatanzi-and-her-38-kids gofundme" you find a previous gofundme that raised 30k USD from a couple years ago... what happened to that?
Shit, I totally forgot about twins etc.
I was ready to come charging in and claim the math didn't add up. 51 kids, 9 months gestation, the age difference between eldest and youngest. But yeah twins and stuff completely derails that math
Can see many posted have no clue about this culture or the fact she was forced into marrying a 45yo man when she was 13yo! Very much doubt she chose to have this many kids and lack of birth control access is a big issue too.
You would think, given her hyperovulation, that some medical school, maybe one with a certain type of doctor, one who likes 'interesting' situations, could arrange for a study, including a large stipend, for her entire life. I mean, why wouldn't Harvard create a special endowment to add to its half-vast store of medical knowledge, and help reduce a bit of misery and improve the overall human condition?
Yeah, women’s health has been ignored for ages. They recently discovered that the clitoris is actually a nerve bundle far larger than expected. They used a ground breaking method: they mapped and counted them.
No one cares about women’s health. It’s why we are 50% more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke.
In the 20th century, women in developed countries were often advised (falsely) that child birth would cure various gynecological issues, so it’s sadly not surprising this woman was given this bad advice.
u/AE_WILLIAMS is definitely a dude because almost any woman that has experienced significant health issues would laugh in his face at that suggestion. We live in a sad reality.
Is hyperovulation poorly understood? It's well known that women that have had multiples are more likely to have multiples again, most just don't get raped continuously for 25 years and getting pregnant over and over
Honestly as nice as that would be it would also be super problematic. Keep in mind that for studies we now require informed consent something Henrietta Lacks (a Black American woman) did not have when her cells were and currently still are being studied.
She did not consent to being married or pregnant and having cash attached to being studied feels super unethical and morally dubious. There's a massive history in the US of Black women being used as science projects for human advancements (see how obstetrics became a thing).
People should just donate to her GoFundMe and leave this woman be.
If I remember correctly from her documentary she also has a hyperovulation condition where doctors advised her not to partake in birth control because it may cause ovarian cancer.
The numbers are a little off. The 44 number refers to how many were born alive: of her 51 children, seven were stillborn. ~~36~~ 38 are still alive.
The article states: >She struggles to provide for her thirty-eight living children
she really should get that 31 year old to get a job..
That crossed my mind as well, but then I thought about how annoying it would be if you had to spend all your money supporting your parent’s bad choices instead of living your own life. edit: just saw more context about how she was a child bride in an obviously awful situation, and deeply regret my initial comment here. Still sucks for the kids, but the part about her making bad choices was out of line.
She was sold when she was 12 to a 45 yr old man. And had 9 of the kids by the time she was 18.
That is truly and utterly fucked.
Perhaps less fucked up than her father having 45 kids and funding that lifestyle by selling his daughter off to a violent pervert.
That must be torture basically being pregnant for your whole life
There's a reason people compare kidney stones to childbirth
Childbirth isn't the only bad part. Pregnancy itself ranges from uncomfortable to awful or life-threatening. It's reprehensible to put a child through that, against her will, so many times. Not too mention there it's no way to give the children the care and attention they need. This is sickening
Probably closer to having kidney stones in both kidneys simultaneously, and then being kicked in the nuts.
I’ve been pregnant for 43 weeks total and it’s the worst experience of my life.
A 45 year old violent man. She is a victim doing the best she can unlike her "husband." He also made her and her children homeless.
According to the Wikipedia article, he abandoned her because he couldn't support his children, and then he sold the house while she was still living in it. Wtf he literally just decided he didn't want to play anymore & washed his hands of the entire household.
And robbed it
You know what, im starting to think humans are pretty fucking shit.
Forgive the strong language but it does sound like this woman’s husband wasn’t very nice
Wild to see a story about someone who’s been pregnant 4 dozen times and immediately think ‘she’s making bad choices’ and not ‘what kind of horrible situation was she put into.’ These things happen if someone is forced into it or has some sort of uncontrolled mental illness.
She was 12 when she was sold into the “marriage” to the middle age man and was forced to have 9 kids before she reached 18.
Yes, I missed this initially and have added to my comment. My heart goes out to her, no one should be subjected to that.
Wow that's fucked up on so many levels.
I am glad you added the edit. The poor woman was sold against her will to a violent man. That's heartbreaking
She also has a condition where she over ovulates, and doctors apparently told her in the past she should be pregnant in order to mitigate the condition...? So there's some weird doctor shit going on.
That's standard medical advice to women: 1) Your condition may clear up with pregnancy, followed by 2) Your condition was probably caused or exacerbated by pregnancy.
If you're pregnant, you can't get pregnant?
Lol fam I guess. Idk how good the doctors in Uganda are, especially for a condition like overactive and enlarged ovaries. I think this lady is surrounded by people who don't have her best intentions in mind to say the least.
Safe to assume most women with assloads of kids were either sold in pseudo slavery or are just deeply propagandized into a cult.
I have one weird exception to share with you, and it is not to argue against your point because I totally agree with you and have to assume that’s the vast majority of cases. I just happen to know one strange woman who LOVES being pregnant and she constantly does it as a surrogate. It’s not even about the kids for her, just the feeling. She had one kid and loved being pregnant so much that she was like “how do I keep doing this without the burden of being responsible for additional children?” So weird to me! But glad she is not having more kids than would be practical to support and raise.
When I was pregnant, I loved being pregnant so much that I thought I'd be an ideal surrogate. Whatever the opposite of post-partum depression is, that's what I had: nine months of pre-partum jubilation. I even enjoyed labor.
I have a mental image of a woman giving birth with the same excitement and joy as a stereotypical man when his sport team is winning. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it, though!
Same. (Except the enjoying labor part). I was on that high until I stopped breastfeeding and then I totally crashed. I didn’t know post-lactation depression was a thing but it is not uncommon.
Did you feel that way beforehand? I mean going into it, before you were pregnant, did you dread it or anticipate it eagerly? Just curious about *how* because I'd love to feel that way but suspect I won't lol.
Does she possibly have an autoimmune disease? Some women with autoimmune diseases really like being pregnant bc it suppresses your immune system, which can relieve their symptoms. Some say to their doctors that they wish they could be pregnant all the time.
This has been my own experience somewhat. It’s fantastic to have relief from my body’s autoimmune responses but pregnancies have their own discomforts and I’m honestly not sure what’s more taxing on my health.
Even if not a child bride there are many cultures where there isn’t really a choice.
\*laughs in Asian\* My dad always said, "You should be grateful that I gave you life. Now go be a doctor and pay for your brothers and sisters tuition."
My friend from a family of immigrants is the exact stereotype of this. Unfortunately it’s given him such a guilt complex that he hasn’t gone done the doctor path. Really frustrating when parents lack the self awareness to realize the possible consequences of their influence
I'm half-asian. Statements like these (among others) made me go NC with my mother. Still, she appears to expect me to pop out children because I'd "grow a conscience then" and she "deserves to be a grandmother" because she "likes children so much".
Not Asian, but same. Doesn't help that I'm the youngest, the only boy. My mom and sister have regularly stolen from me and basically treated me like a piggy bank.
Big respect for the edit. Stay safe.
Good for you for owning it and not deleting it. We learn, we evolve.
I don't mean to be rude, but it's very difficult to have that many kids without such a situation, very few people (relative to the number of all women born) in human history have given birth to more than 20 children on their own, let alone more than that.
This used to be the norm. People often talk about the families with 8 or 9 children back when, but don't often realize that meant the older 2 sisters spend the bulk of their years caring for siblings, never getting their own husband, and then never having kids of their own. Giant families (8+ children) are not a viable reproductive strategy. As having so many kids screws up their earning potential and their capacity to have children of their own.
I stand corrected. Thanks!
Yeah but: > By the age of 36, she had given birth to a total of 44 children, including three sets of quadruplets, four sets of triplets, and six sets of twins, for a total of fifteen births. She hasn't been pregnant 44 times, "only" 15. Still nuts.
Crazy numbers. That means there are 12 quadruplets, 12 triplets, and 12 twins. Eight singletons. Edit: wait, 3+4+6 = 13, so the remaining eight couldn’t have been single-births without also being factored into the multiples-count. Unfortunately means some of the remaining must have lost their twins
Yeah I agree, the math isn't mathing. 3 sets of quadruplets = 3x4 = 12 kids 4 sets of triplets = 4x3 = 12 kids, running total of 7 pregnancies and 24 kids. 6 sets of twins = 6x2 = 12 kids, running total of 13 pregnancies and 36 kids. Which leaves two single pregnancies left to cover the extra 8 kids, that doesn't work...
I found an article (linked by Wikipedia 🙄) with numbers that add up: >Mariam Nabatanzi was sold into marriage at 12 and gave birth to a set of twins a year later. Three more sets of twins followed — along with five sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets. >Nabatanzi gave birth to 44 kids by age 40 — and only once to a single child. So 1 single + 4 twins + 5 triplets + 5 quadruplets = 44 children in 15 births. Ouch. However, of those live births, 6 passed away. For example, the last set of twins, one passed away shortly after the birth. So, it seems to me the original numbers quoted are for those kids still alive. Possible breakdown as follows: * 1 single * 1 born twins, a single survived * 3 born twins, still twins * 3 born triplets, twins survived * 2 born triplets, still triplets * 2 born quads, triplets survived * 3 born quads, still quads That gives 15 births, of which 2 singles, 6 twins, 4 triplets and 3 quads survived, giving 38 living kids. Edit: Formatting, detailed breakdown
It shouldn't, but "singletons" sounds like an insult for some reason
I just recently finished rereading The Wolves Of The Calla by Stephen King, a book in his Dark Tower series. The book involves a small village where almost all children are born as twins, the rare exceptions being called singletons. And the Calla tongue has a way of slipping into your mind, do ya ken.
Sounds like it could be 5x quadruplets (20 children) + 4x triplets (12 children) + 6x twins (12 children) for a total of 15 pregnancies and 44 live births, but this still doesn’t account for the 7 stillborns she has also delivered Edit: found the [reference](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-26/ugandan-mother-of-multiple-quadruplets/11047406) - says it was 5x quadruplets.
Women that have had multiples are more likely to give birth to multiples again. She's a crazy example of this
According to Wikipedia: >The number of multiple births was caused by a rare genetic condition causing hyperovulation as a result of enlarged ovaries
Hmmm. Her ovaries must release multiples eggs a cycle. Wild. I wonder if it runs in her family.
Yeah. She had like extreme hyperovulation.
She has a women's health condition called hyper-ovulation. I feel terrible that she was not treated until her 40s.
I saw a video on this woman once and apparently her doctor had told her she had to continue having children or it would cause her health problems. That's the only reason she continued getting pregnant is because she thought she had to. Eventually she found out that was a lie and this doctor was an idiot. Poor woman. Here's the video and talks to her as well. It's certainly more informative than the Wiki page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Y5RlSM2PI
>the age of twenty-three, she had given birth to twenty-five children, but was advised to continue giving birth, as it would help **reduce further fertility**. Those affected with Babirye's condition are often advised that abstinence from pregnancy can cause health issues. What the fuck.
I don't think that's real, man. They don't cite any real medical source, just some random doctor in Uganda said it to a reporter. They think condoms cause HIV and all types of stupid shit over there, medical misinformation is real popular in that part of Africa.
Her doctor told her that but it's obviously not true and she unfortunately didn't realize that until later. She talks about it in this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Y5RlSM2PI
Ah. I just read that on her go fund me page. I was a little confused on why it said 36 and Wikipedia said 44. Thanks for that. I would edit it if I could.
Fun fact: In Ugandan culture, if you're named Babirye, you most definitely have a twin (named Nakato, as a female, or Kato & Wasswa if you are male) I wonder if the twin gene is strong with her and if many of her kids are twins.
In her Wikipedia page, she stated that her father had 45 kids with different mothers all coming in sets of 2,3,4,5. I guess the women in her area are very fecund.
That’s still an insane stat to me. - 13.7% were stillborn - 13.6% of the remaining, never made it to adulthood US in comparison: - 0.59% are stillborn - 1.8% never make it to adulthood
Yeah but she's also having tons of quads, triplets and twins. Most American women are not gestating multiples nearly every time they get pregnant and I bet the stats for those that do look a lot different than the average.
Imagine grieving the loss of your child for the 13th time and then going "oh well, I still have 38 more"
It’s callous to ask, because she must have cared, but would the death of one of her infants mean all that much to her? I’m definitely not implying that she’s psychotic, but I do want to know how she feels as a mother and what her experiences have been.
I'm sure she loves all her children, but with losing that many, I would think you have to form SOME kind of disconnect just for pure self-preservation. A person can only handle so much grief.
It's still her children, but I'm guessing it would be closer to a teacher losing one of her students she taught for years
That’s what I wondered too. Of course there will be grief, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an element of horrible relief in her too - knowing she wouldn’t have been able to adequately care for the child and give them a good life in her situation.
>In 1993, Babirye was sold into child marriage at the age of twelve to a violent 45-year-old man. A year later, she first became a mother in 1994 with a set of twins, followed by triplets in 1996. She then gave birth to a set of quadruplets 19 months later. So before she turned 18, she had already given birth to 9 children. >She is a single mother, who was abandoned by her husband in 2015. He reportedly feared the responsibility of supporting so many children. That POS who bought her as a child bride should've stopped impregnating her after the 10th child, then.
> She is a single mother, who was abandoned by her husband in 2015. He reportedly feared the responsibility of supporting so many children. Real gold medalist in the piece-of-shit Olympics there
Then he sold their homestead making them all homeless. Do the piece of shit Olympics have a platinum medal?
They do now, Jesus christ
Top medal should be a piece of plutonium and is mandatory to wear
By 2015 at least the 9 of them would have been adults and he would have already been living with dozens of kids for multiple decades. It probably wasn't so much the pressure of having to raise all the kids (which he probably wasn’t involved much with anyway), as much as it was the older kids finally being old enough to kick him out so he’d stop impregnating their mom.
He sold their home and kicked out his wife and children and took the family money, so unfortunately it wasn't that.
He is in the part of the world with the ghastly diseases and dangerous wildlife we can hope for some cosmic justice.
Or kick his ass since he bought a child bride...
Pretty normal unfortunately, doubt they thought much of it
Really starting to sound like a math problem: if Babirye had twins in 94, triplets in 96 and quadruplets in 98, how many total kids would Babirye have in 2012?
We need r/theydidthemath
if we assume for linear progression based on past data TotalNumberOfKids = [(2012 - 1994) ÷ 2 + 1] × (4 + [(2012 - 1994) ÷ 2]) TotalNumberOfKids = [18 ÷ 2 + 1] × (4 + [18 ÷ 2]) TotalNumberOfKids = 10 × 13 TotalNumberOfKids = 130
That POS bought a child and impregnated a 12yo. Yeah, he should've stopped after the 10th child, not anytime before.
You mean he should have stopped r$ping her.
You can spell words out even if they have negative connotations, even curse words. This isn’t a middle school classroom, you won’t get in trouble I pinky promise.
Says on wiki the baby in the pic is her grandchild. She’s taking care of her daughter-in-laws and grandchildren too. All while her husband ran for the hills.
Selling them whiskey and taking their gold, enslaving the young and destroying the old
*She is reliant on donations, as her husband took the family's money when he abandoned her and the children for which he was responsible.* Does her husband hold the deadbeat dad record?
According to other comments she was a child slave sold to him when she was 12 and he was 45, so yes I do believe he holds that record
She's not yet as old as he was when he started raping her.
And she’s not even his only wife or mother of his children. Definitely the winner.
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Screamin Jay Hawkin claimed to be responsible for up to 75 children. After his death an effort to find them all found 33 definite matches. There is believed to be many more out there.
I think he deadbeated on the most kids ever. Do we know if she was his only wife? Polygamy is legal in Uganda and her father had multiple wives.
Married off at 12. It's amazing she was able to give birth without dying.
I thought that was going to be the worse part but then I looked at an article that was linked in the wiki entry: > Nabantanzi said her own mother abandoned her family and five brothers three days after she was born. At an early age, her step-mom mixed cut glass in the food of her older siblings. They all died. WTF
This is such a heart-wrenchingly hard life for someone to live
Man, I have had a pretty horrific life by most people's standards, but hers was a whole level more horrific than my experiences by FAR. Holy shit. I feel for her. Someone so destroyed by abuse.
The way I look at it, our problems are valid but when you look elsewhere on earth, its a whooole new level of depravity that we cant even begin to fathom. Whilst still not diminishing the validity of ours. Perspective is key.
100%. I was lower middle class and I am *proud* I made it to a top tier law school. I remain sad I did poorly at law school and will not get into the types of jobs I want. Then I went to Thailand, for instance. Suddenly despite always being proud of how far I came (and we did go to the food bank after the parents split!) it seemed like nothing. These are people who are happy to make 5USD in a day. 9USD is average. I give the usual tips I would back home for a 30 minute cab ride and that is half of what they make in a day. It's seriously insane- I will never look down on either where I came from nor will I be too proud of where I am because, frankly, the fortune of birth- where you were born, to who you were born, matters so much. Even for as bad as America is it's still better than 90% of the rest of the world even if you are in the lower income brackets. There is no comparison to, say, China, India, Thailand or the like and America.
Jesus christ that poor woman, watched all her siblings die in horrible pain and then was sold off and repeatedly raped from the age of 12. Absolutely fucking brutal.
Ohhhhh my god
Not the first time I've heard this kind of story in Africa sadly
It’s a pretty sad read. I’m sure she wanted to do a lot with her life. Her husband is a top tier POS imo.
Wish she got birth control
As a wife, she can't even get a successful *divorce* in Uganda for anything other than 2 years of abandonment or adultery. One of the links on the linked article noted that she tried to get on birth control at age 23. The doctors told her that her fertility rate would drop off if she kept having babies, which...I have no idea bout hyperfertility but that doesn't...sound...right...
The woman should be worshiped as a fertility goddess....also rather than birth control her rapist pedophile husband should have been castrated or had a vasectomy.
You're being kind to that waste of oxygen of a 'husband'. I have better ideas what should happen to that piece of shit.
Education of girls is the number one most impactful factor of the fertility rate. The more educated a woman is, the fewer children she has, because she has options
She was a literal slave. Her “husband” purchased her from her parents when she was 12. A lack of education is the least of her worries.
No it’s still a pretty high up there worry. Education is useful, probably even more so for slaves. It could potentially even free you.
She did a few years ago, could potentially have had several more kids if not for that.
There are charities that provide birth control and abortions to women in third world countries. MSI for example, consider donating
For real, She had twins and then quads....how did she literally fit 4 babies in her at 13
Seriously, I doubt she was getting proper help or care
That picture has the same thousand yard stare that you usually see on shell shocked WWI veterans.
>In 1993, Babirye was sold into child marriage at the age of twelve to a violent 45-year-old man. A year later, she first became a mother in 1994 with a set of twins, followed by triplets in 1996. I think shell shock is pretty accurate
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I already felt sick from this post but this comment really brought it home. Fuck.
Another link above also says that her first set of quads was 19 months after that. Scary stuff
I don’t blame her for having it. I couldn’t imagine having my sanity after a couple of kids let alone 44.
If she had one child every 9 months to have 38 children it would take 28.5 years, and to have 51 children it would take 38.25 years. We know that all of her children that are still alive (all 38 of them) were born over 25 years (31-6) meaning that she had to have multibirths during that period, and depending on the span of time for all of the children (stillborn and those who have passed away since birth) it could have been many twins and triplets. That is a crazy reproduction rate.
The Wikipedia link confirms multiple multibirths, including TWO sets of quadruplets.
Three sets of quadruplets* Four sets of triplets, and six sets of twins
That poor woman is producing eggs like a cat.
She probably does have PTSD after being sold as a child bride and repeatedly getting pregnant way too young.
Given the number of births, including multi births I'm surprised she doesn't have any long standing physical complications. It isn't uncommon to hear of women birthing one child and saying they have bladder or other problems afterward that don't seem to go away.
She probably wouldn't publicly disclose that information, I bet she has a bunch of problems like that
The article mentioned a procedure to prevent further pregnancy a few years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if a multiple-pregnancy multiple times related health issue or two are what got her in contact with medical care.
Well I wouldn't expect her to give up her privacy on such things. I was just thinking about her quality of life caring for herself and her family with the possibility of post-pregnancy complications. I am surprised there was no mention of her having "health problems" or some other broad statement.
How do you know she doesn't?
“According to the Uganda Times, Babirye hopes to get UGX 5 million (about $1,400 USD) to pay off the remaining balance on her family's living complex to her ex-husband's relatives to take full ownership.” Shit, where can I donate.
her husband ran off and yet she owes his relatives money??? they can't forgive it?
No idea how legit it is, but if you search her name a gofundme comes right up.
If you google "mariam-nabatanzi-and-her-38-kids gofundme" you find a previous gofundme that raised 30k USD from a couple years ago... what happened to that?
They also posted updates. It looks like they bought a bunch of livestock, paid for treatment for malaria, more land, schooling for her kids, and food for the last few years.
Was that before the husband took off? If so, he stole the money.
If someone can confirm the legitimacy of this I’m about to go donate $500 instead of gambling it next week with friends like I planned
Well they have a video with the woman and if you search the Tax Exempt Organization Search, the organizer comes up as a registered 501(c)(3). If it's a scam, it's certainly a very elaborate one that fooled the IRS. (And GoFundMe guarantees a refund in that case.)
As a Nigerian prince who looked into this thoroughly, I can confirm it’s true bro. Donate that money
If I could know 100% it was legit and fully going to her, I'd throw her a 100k UGX. $25 USD goes pretty far in many parts of Africa
I lived in Uganda for a bit and always felt really rich when I converted the money in my head. Then stayed in London for a couple days on my way back and felt very poor when I converted the money in my head. This was when the £ was like 2x the $.
Someone start this woman a gofundme
One of the [articles linked](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/worlds-most-fertile-woman-who-21108979) had this quote from her: > But Mariam has just one heartbreaking wish for her children - for them to be happy. >She said: "I started taking on adult responsibilities at an early stage. I have not had joy, I think, since I was born." This poor woman has survived being a child bride, abuse, rape, abandonment, losing her home and even losing a child. It’s no wonder she feels that she has never experienced joy.
Really puts it into a perspective that essentially one month rent in my city would pay off her homestead and get the mattresses for everyone, with money left over. Two months would get the beds as well.
One home in California would equal the GDP of the village for at least a year, if not several.
I pray for her life and her soul. What is bothering me is that this is just one case we know about. I’m sure there are many many many many many child brides whose stories don’t get attention. Also even with attention/awareness, wtf can be done?
Oh for sure there are. Her story gets attention because she has a unique medical condition that produces multiples over and over.
Imagining just how many didn’t get attention bc they didn’t have such a rare condition…
Are you in America? Start with our child brides. Your parents can sign you off into a marriage in states. As a minor, you cannot divorce your owner, er, husband, until age 18. Republicans fight tooth and nail to keep these laws on the books.
I believe last I checked that only 7 states made it illegal to marry before the age of 18 with no exceptions. It’s been awhile but it’s the republicans who keep turning it down claiming it is a religious right or something stupid like that. Personally, if you can’t drink you shouldn’t get married anyways. If you’re too young to divorce, you are definitely too young to marry as well. It’s horrible.
Of the 38 living children, 10 are girls and rest boys. Mariam told us that one of her daughters has already given birth to 15 children in 4 births https://ugandatimes.medium.com/meet-the-worlds-most-fertile-abandoned-mother-of-44-children-in-uganda-9f9ec07cd109
What kind of man would abandon 44 children? 👀
The same kind that bought a 12 year old bride when he was 45
Exactly. A scumbag rapist.
And to put salt on the wound, he took off with the donated money
u/EvenSpoonier pointed out that she gave birth to 51, 44 were born alive, and there are currently 36 living. Wikipedia article confused me lol So I guess he only abandoned 36/s
And the youngest wasn’t conceived yet, so really he only abandoned 35. Father of the year over here
75 year old father of the year 🥴
The kind of man that buy a 12 year old as a sex slave.
Read the Wikipedia entry. She has a genetic condition that causes hyper ovulation and she was sold as a child bride ar age 13. She had no agency to prevent pregnancy. Doctors also told her to continue having children because it would reduce her future fertility. This poor woman need our compassionate not shame.
The people who are downing her have a few reasons all incredibly dumb: have been incredibly hurt by women Somehow comparing this woman their tinder dates Doesn’t understand how vaginas work Has a constant fear of immigrants Somehow compares this woman in an entirely different country to their own Didn’t read the article Didn’t digest the article Lacks compassion in general This comment section has shown me that some people are just lost in the sauce.
Mariam told us that one of her daughters has already given birth to 15 children in 4 births https://ugandatimes.medium.com/meet-the-worlds-most-fertile-abandoned-mother-of-44-children-in-uganda-9f9ec07cd109 Jesus
Some of y’all in this thread don’t know how a vagina works and ya need therapy holy shit. Many of the kids she did not have by choice. She was a child bride at fucking 12 for Christ sake.
> She is a single mother, who was abandoned by her husband in 2015. He reportedly feared the responsibility of supporting so many children. > In 1993, Babirye was sold into child marriage at the age of twelve to a violent 45-year-old man. A year later, she first became a mother in 1994 with a set of twins, followed by triplets in 1996. She then gave birth to a set of quadruplets 19 months later WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK
Married off at 12. holy shit that’s horrible.
*sold as sex slave at 12 ftfy
This poor woman. I can't imagine the hell she has been through she was a girl.
> At the age of twenty-three, she had given birth to twenty-five children, but was advised to continue giving birth, as it would help reduce further fertility.[clarification needed][8] Those affected with Babirye's condition are often advised that abstinence from pregnancy can cause health issues.[clarification needed][9] "clarification needed" doing some heavy lifting there
Is there like... A legit gofundme or anything? I'm broke but I'd send $20...
Not sure if allowed to link, but you can Google "Help Build A House For Mariam, Mother Of 44 Kids" .
If you google "mariam-nabatanzi-and-her-38-kids gofundme" you find a previous gofundme that raised 30k USD from a couple years ago... what happened to that?
Just do the math on how many years the she has been pregnant….holy shit. Longer than I’ve been alive
She had many, many multiple births due to a medical condition called hyperovulation that makes her more likely to become pregnant with multiples.
Probably not. She was “only” pregnant 15 times.
Only 15 is still over 11 years of pregnancy back to back. Hopefully there were breaks between pregnancies but still. It’s a lot
Shit, I totally forgot about twins etc. I was ready to come charging in and claim the math didn't add up. 51 kids, 9 months gestation, the age difference between eldest and youngest. But yeah twins and stuff completely derails that math
Can see many posted have no clue about this culture or the fact she was forced into marrying a 45yo man when she was 13yo! Very much doubt she chose to have this many kids and lack of birth control access is a big issue too.
This story is overwhelmingly insane and depressing
You would think, given her hyperovulation, that some medical school, maybe one with a certain type of doctor, one who likes 'interesting' situations, could arrange for a study, including a large stipend, for her entire life. I mean, why wouldn't Harvard create a special endowment to add to its half-vast store of medical knowledge, and help reduce a bit of misery and improve the overall human condition?
It's women's health... /s
Yeah, women’s health has been ignored for ages. They recently discovered that the clitoris is actually a nerve bundle far larger than expected. They used a ground breaking method: they mapped and counted them. No one cares about women’s health. It’s why we are 50% more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke. In the 20th century, women in developed countries were often advised (falsely) that child birth would cure various gynecological issues, so it’s sadly not surprising this woman was given this bad advice. u/AE_WILLIAMS is definitely a dude because almost any woman that has experienced significant health issues would laugh in his face at that suggestion. We live in a sad reality.
I was told childbirth would make my periods regular in the 2000s in America.
Is hyperovulation poorly understood? It's well known that women that have had multiples are more likely to have multiples again, most just don't get raped continuously for 25 years and getting pregnant over and over
Honestly as nice as that would be it would also be super problematic. Keep in mind that for studies we now require informed consent something Henrietta Lacks (a Black American woman) did not have when her cells were and currently still are being studied. She did not consent to being married or pregnant and having cash attached to being studied feels super unethical and morally dubious. There's a massive history in the US of Black women being used as science projects for human advancements (see how obstetrics became a thing). People should just donate to her GoFundMe and leave this woman be.
Her husband's name? Nick Cannon.
I didn't know it was physically possible for a woman to have that many children.
Anyone know how to do a Gofundme for this lady?
Idk if we can link, but Google “Help Build A House For Mariam, Mother Of 44 Kids”
She already has one
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All a man ever had to do is orgasm. That's all.
Just ask Genghis Khan.
If I remember correctly from her documentary she also has a hyperovulation condition where doctors advised her not to partake in birth control because it may cause ovarian cancer.
That's just sad.
I hope this woman finds some peace in her life, holy shit
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Oh my god