Chinese woman gives birth to 5 babies without fertility treatment

A premature infant in the NICU.

A Chinese couple is celebrating the birth of five new babies without fertility treatment after trying to conceive for six years, Central European News reported.

The couple, 33-year-old Wu Junping and husband Zhang Yongli, 34, live in China’s Shandong province and married in 2008. They were just about to give up when doctors broke the news: Wu was pregnant.

However, the couple’s joy quickly turned to concern when they learned she was pregnant with not one but five children.

"My biggest worry was my wife had been ill for a while before she got pregnant, and had not fully recovered when she suddenly learned that she was pregnant with five babies,” Yongli told CEN. “We inquired about the possibility of having the number reduced, but were told that it wasn't possible to abort some babies without putting all [at] risk, and so we decided it was all or nothing and to take the risk. It was my wife's choice, and I supported her."

All five babies were born, but the last child, a girl, did not survive. The smallest child born weighs just 1 pound and about 2 ounces. That child, as well as the other siblings, are in intensive care.

Yongli added that doctors say the others have a good chance of surviving and can be taken home when they have recovered.

The couple expressed worry over having enough financial resources to care for their new brood. Yongli’s salary as an agricultural worker may not suffice, they said.

A medic at the hospital where the children were born told CEN that the birth was difficult for the children and that the instance was rare.

“It was a one in 65 million occurrence,” the medic said.