She Lives in a Shoe*

Some of you may have read this story about the Ukrainian immigrant family that may be the largest all-biological family in the US. You may also have heard about the current demographic crisis in Russia, where the birth rate is almost twice as high as the death rate.** But have you heard about this busy lady?

"According to Guinness World Records 2001, the highest officially recorded number of children born to one mother is 69, to the first wife of Feodor Vassilyev (1707-1782) of Shuya, Russia. Between 1725 and 1765, in a total of 27 confinements, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. 67 of them survived infancy."

Good lord, she might as well have been a cat. And she was just his FIRST wife! Or did you know that the youngest person on record to give birth was five years old? Uh, sad. Details of these, and more fascinating and disturbing maternity-paternity facts can be found here, and a news account of a 26-year-old grandmother in Britain is here. Mary and Joseph's little arrival was practically pedestrian compared to some of these!

*Corrections. Apparently I was not quite awake when I wrote this. For one thing, I titled it "Old Mother Hubbard" when I was clearly thinking of the character who has so many children, she doesn't know what to do, not the old lady who something-something cupboard.

**Also, while I knew what I meant about the Russian Demographic Crisis thing, I typed the exact opposite. The death rate is almost twice as high as the birth rate, causing the population to plummet. They need more Mrs. Vassilyevs!