Counting her blessings

Jewish woman gives birth to sextuplets in France

Team of 30 medical staff members take four minutes to deliver six babies, born premature at 24 weeks; last time such large multiple birth occurred in country was in 1989

By Marcy Oster 18 May 2020, 11:58 pm

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Illustrative. Parents with newborn sextuplets, in the neonatal unit, at St. Johns Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, Missouri, May 21, 2004. (Kyle Ericson/AP/File)

JTA — A Jewish woman in Strasbourg, France, has given birth to sextuplets.

The five girls and one boy were born very prematurely on Thursday at the Hautepierre Hospital in Strasbourg, requiring the assistance of 30 medical staff members, the daily LeParisien reported, citing the newspaper Les Actualités Nouvelles d’Alsace.

It took four minutes to deliver the babies, who were born at 24 weeks, after which they were taken to the neonatal intensive care unit. They weighed in at between 1.4 pounds and 1.6 pounds (0.6 kg-0.7 kg) and likely will require a stay of many months in the hospital.

The couple have two other children. The Hebrew-language news website B’hadrey Haredim identified the father as Rabbi Ovadia Ben-Simon.

The last sextuplets in France were born nearly 30 years ago, in 1989, in Normandy. Sextuplets occur once in 4.7 million deliveries worldwide.