Warsaw – Poland Welcomes Sextuplets; 4 Girls, 2 Boys Doing Well

Warsaw – They were only expecting five. In the end there were six of them. Poland welcomed Monday what are considered to be its first ever sextuplets and all six babies and their 29-year-old mother are said to be doing well.

The babies, four of whom are girls, were born through cesarean section at a hospital in southern Poland.

Maria Wlodkowska, a spokeswoman for the University Hospital in Krakow, said the babies were born in the pregnancy’s 29th week and that their individual weights range from 890 grams (31.40 ounces) to 1,300 grams (45.90 ounces). She said the babies are fine but have been placed in incubators to assist their development.

Only one in nearly 5 billion pregnancies leads to sextuplets.

“It is the first time in Poland that sextuplets are born, and it is rare in the world,” said chief of the hospital’s neonatology ward, Prof. Ryszard Lauterbach.

He said it came as a surprise because doctors were expecting five babies.

“We had five teams with five incubators ready waiting, and when all were taken another baby, a girl, appeared,” Lauterbach said on TVN24.

He praised doctors for getting the pregnancy to the 29th week.

There was widespread rejoice across Poland over the news.

President Andrzej Duda congratulated the parents and the doctors on Twitter, while the local football club, Cracovia, has offered life-long tickets and said they were keeping fingers crossed for the babies.

“We don’t know who your parents are rooting for, but we are giving you, kids, permanent subscription to tickets,” Cracovia said in a tweet.

The babies have a 2 ½-year-old brother.