Pregnancy Facts

The most children born to one mother is reportedly 69, attributed to Valentina Vassilyeva, an 18th-century Russian peasant. Over approximately 40 years (1725-1765), she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets across 27 pregnancies.

Smoking while pregnant increases the chances of spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) stillbirths and premature labor.

The male fetus is capable of attaining an erection during the last trimester.

A chance of a woman having twins is increased after the age of 35. About 1 in 27 women will give birth to twins after this age. After 50 the chances of having twins is 1 in 9.

A fetus develops fingerprints starting at 10 weeks, with unique patterns fully formed by 17 weeks of pregnancy.

On average, it takes 660 days from conception for an elephant to give birth.

Scientists recognize at least six distinct types of twins beyond just identical and fraternal: Mirror-Image twins (reversed features), Half-Identical/Polar Body twins (share 75% DNA), Superfecundation twins (different fathers), and Superfetation twins (conceived weeks apart).

Bearing a male child can alter a woman's brain by leaving male DNA behind. This phenomenon, called fetal microchimerism, allows fetal cells to cross the placenta and persist in the mother's body for decades—including in her brain. Research has found male DNA in the brains of women who died in their 90s.

The male seahorse carries babies and 'gives birth' to them instead of the female.

At 14, James Harrison nearly died during lung surgery and was saved by strangers' blood. He kept his promise to pay it back for 60 years, donating plasma 1,173 times. His rare anti-D antibodies created a treatment given during pregnancy that saved his own daughter's babies, and the Man with the Golden Arm saved 2.4 million Australian newborns over his lifetime.

When Rosario Juarez told her AutoZone district manager she was pregnant, he replied "Congratulations... I guess" - then added "I feel sorry for you." She was demoted, then fired. The jury felt differently: $185 million in punitive damages.