65-year-old Annegret Raunigk gives birth to QUADRUPLETS – now has 17 children

           Annegret Raunigk (L) posing with her daughter Leila in Berlin, Germany in 2005
           (Picture: EPA)

A 65-year-old woman has given birth to quadruplets- meaning she now has 17 children.

Annegret Raunigk, a teacher from Berlin, Germany, gave birth to a girl, Neeta, and three boys – Dries, Bence and Fjonn – by caesarean section at a Berlin hospital on Tuesday.

The four newborns weighed between one lb, seven ounces and two lbs, two ounces each. The children were said to be healthy but were being moitored as they had been born prematurely at only 26 weeks.

Ms Raunigk was said to be doing ‘well’ after the birth.

The then oldest mother of Germany at an age of 55, Annegret Raunigk (Picture: Jörg Carstensen/dpa)

‘Ms Raunigk basically has no medical risk any more,’ Heike Speda told The Associated Press.

The mother was widely criticised by medical professionals in the country for choosing to have more children at the age of 65.

Ms Raunigk already has 13 children ranging in age from nine to 44, from five fathers. She gave birth to her last child Leila aged 55.

She told Germany’s Bild newspaper last month that she decided to become pregnant again because her nine-year-old daughter wanted a younger sibling. She also has seven grandchildren.

Ms Raunigk travelled abroad to have donated, fertilised eggs implanted – a procedure that is illegal in Germany.

Her decision prompted criticism from doctors, who questioned whether her body would be physically capable of bearing four children.

But Ms Raunigk defended her decision, telling Bild last month: ‘They can see it how they want to and I’ll see it the way I think is right.’

Metro Uk