German woman gives birth to quadruplets at age of 65

A 65-year-old German woman, who already has 13 children, has given birth to quadruplets after undergoing an artificial insemination procedure in Ukraine, RTL television reported early on Saturday.

The three boys and one girl were born premature at 26 weeks in a Berlin hospital but have "good chances of surviving," the report said.

The mother, Berlin resident Annegret Raunigk, is an English and Russian teacher close to retirement and in addition to her 13 children is grandmother to seven. RTL said the new arrivals make her the world's oldest mother of quadruplets.

She became pregnant after undergoing several artificial insemination procedures in Ukraine, said RTL, which has negotiated exclusive rights to the story of the births.

Raunigk made headlines in April when the German press first reported that her latest artificial insemination attempt had resulted in a quadruple pregnancy.

At the time, she said she decided to try to have another child because her youngest daughter, who is nine, wanted a little brother or sister, according to RTL.

The Bild am Sonntag tabloid quoted Raunigk, whose oldest daughter is reportedly 44, recalling that it was "a shock" when the doctors first broke the news to her of a quadruplet pregnancy.

Raunigk made headlines 10 years ago too, when she gave birth to her 13th child, Lelia, at the age of 55.

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