Septuplet

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For the musical use, see tuplet

Septuplets are a case of multiple birth, in which the mother gives birth to seven children. All recent cases have been due to fertility drugs.

The first recorded instance of septuplets being born was recorded in the 1400s, to a woman named Edith de Bonham of England. All of the children were baptized before their deaths, and the mother had had twins seven years previously.

The first set born in the USA were the Frustaci septuplets, born in 1985. The four boys and three girls were born at 28 weeks and three survived.

The first surviving set in the world was the McCaughey septuplets of Iowa, born in 1997. The four boys and three girls were born at 31 weeks, weighing between 2 lb 5ozs and 3 lb 4ozs.

A second set was born in January 1998 to Hasna Mohammed Humair of Saudi Arabia at 32 weeks. The mother had been told to expect four babies, and has six other children. Her husband's last name is bin Mohammed Sammam.

Since then an unidentified all male set was born in India in 2002. The last reports seen were that all were doing well and there was no news on whether all seven survived.

Forty eight sets of septuplets have been recorded in the world. Of those 48 sets, only one set had any identical babies in it (four identical to the Baylis family of England in 1829. None survived.)