--- title: A 65-Year-Old German Mom Is Expecting Quadruplets description: Annegret Raunigk's oldest child is already 44 canonical: https://time.com/3819112/annegret-raunigk-quadruplets/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-13T11:14:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:28.128Z og:title: A 65-Year-Old German Mom Is Expecting Quadruplets og:description: Annegret Raunigk's oldest child is already 44 og:url: https://time.com/3819112/annegret-raunigk-quadruplets/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte684bb9c736859b9/6987eac5cd1bba073d6f8ea2/annegret-raunigk-pregnant-germany.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1990 og:image:height: 1119 og:image:alt: 65 yea old pregant with quadruplets og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A 65-Year-Old German Mom Is Expecting Quadruplets twitter:description: Annegret Raunigk's oldest child is already 44 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte684bb9c736859b9/6987eac5cd1bba073d6f8ea2/annegret-raunigk-pregnant-germany.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A 65-Year-Old German Mom Is Expecting Quadruplets > Sponsored content. 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Dr. Ruth and others share their stories_ by [Lindsay Kimble / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Lindsay Kimble / People Contributor Apr 13, 2015 11:14 AM UTC  Annegret Raunigk, then 55-years-old, poses with her daughter Leila in Berlin on Nov. 3, 2005. Annegret Raunigk, then 55-years-old, poses with her daughter Leila in Berlin on Nov. 3, 2005. Patrick Lux—EPA by [Lindsay Kimble / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Lindsay Kimble / People Contributor Apr 13, 2015 11:14 AM UTC A 65-year-old German schoolteacher is a busy mother to 13 children—and she’s reportedly about to welcome four more to her burgeoning brood. Annegret Raunigk, who’s oldest child is 44, told German newspaper [_Bild_](http://www.bild.de/news/inland/schwangerschaft/ich-bekomme-vierlinge-mit-65-40506582.bild.html) on April 4 that she is in her 21st week of pregnancy with quadruplets. The Berlin native claims the pregnancy is the result of artificial insemination using both donated sperm and eggs. The pregnancy will be [documented](http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/65-year-old-german-woman-pregnant-with-quadruplets-1.2173089) for German TV show _RTL_. Raunigk told _Bild_ that her doctor reportedly suggested selective reduction when they discovered she was having quadruplets, but she wasn’t interested. Raunigk is no stranger to media attention. She first garnered headlines at age 55 when she give birth to her 13th child, daughter Leila. (Pictured above.) It was Leila, she claims, that inspired her to try for another child. The teacher’s 13 children are reportedly from five different fathers. She is a grandmother to seven. _Bild_ reports that Raunigk is due in the summer, and that she isn’t concerned about the possible health risks for a woman her age. “I simply assume that I will remain fit and healthy,” she told the newspaper. Her doctor, who also spoke to the paper, said he is optimistic. _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/65-year-old-pregnant-woman-germany) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com/people/)_._ _Read next:_ [_Watch This Mom of 6 Boys Freak Out During Gender Reveal of Baby Number 7_](http://time.com/3817158/mom-freaks-out-gender-reveal/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ### See 11 Adorable Babies Swimming Underwater  Zoe, 5 months Seth Casteel  Michael G., 12 months Seth Casteel  Zelda Mae, 7 months Seth Casteel  Emerson, 7 months Seth Casteel  Adeline, 10 months Seth Casteel  Bailey, 14 months Seth Casteel  Colton, 11 months Seth Casteel  Warren M., 11 months Seth Casteel  Khyleigh, 9 months Seth Casteel  Michael R., 4.5 months Seth Casteel  Valentina, 9 months Seth Casteel ## Transcript Where I grew up in Germany, I believed that it's the stork who brings babies to this world. Mother, is it wrong to feel [ MUSIC ] Warm and affectionate when you, when you're with a boy you really like? No dear, it is not wrong. My mom had no problem talking about it. She just said, wait 'til you get married. Maybe, like, when I was in first grade. Around fifth grade. I was about seventh grade. I do remember my mother and grandmother wanted to tell me about the facts of life. I was playing hide and go seek with my friends. Someone got rid of all their, their whole stash of pornos. Like, [ LAUGH ] [ UNKNOWN ]. I pick it up and I'm just like, this is the greatest thing I ever seen. I didn't know that I would talk about sex for my entire professional life. And now I'm 86, and I'm still talking about relationships and sex . >> I remember accidentally coming across what sex was really like on the Playboy channel when we finally got cable TV [ LAUGH ] [ MUSIC ] Sexuality education has to start at a very early age. Your belly button, it's too small. Mary, the baby doesn't come out of your navel. Let me tell you how it is. The first time I had a talk talk was in seventh grade health class. My father was so old- fashioned that. It was just I got sort of Andy back before. He would be like go talk to your brother, and he'd go, go talk to Mom. Asians don't really get that talk. It's just the, the conversations aren't there. You know, like the story of the birds and the bees I don't know that story. I don't know, I still don't know what that is. [ LAUGH ] They told me you could get pregnant by eating watermelon seeds and drinking water and eating dirt. Which I did [ LAUGH ] throwing up, I was throwing up mud when my mom got home. When the sperm and the egg get together they make a tiny person. So tiny that not even the mother knows it's there for the first few weeks. When I was a child I just thought, oh it's bad. It's bad unless you get married. And now that I'm adult I understand there's nothing wrong with that. Good sexuality education. That starts when a child is growing up is going to be beneficial for that child for the rest of his or her life. Coming from a Pentecostal Christian family, I was definitely. Not only challenging to be trying to find myself, around my sexuality and my gender identity. But I just remember always feeling this conflict of being very curious about it but then feeling very very dirty and just wrong at the same time. mom, you know, taught us a lot about self esteem and self love and it comes here first inside. Not to run off and find it in someone else. I think that when you, when you make something so taboo to somebody, you make them even more curious about it. I've realized that this really, ultimately, is about companionship and love and togetherness. I think if they say, okay, it's okay for us to talk about sex, I think they'll think, oh, more people are gonna have it. It's okay to be a sexual being. I don't think we talk enough about trust and sex. We talk a lot about love and sex and of course we want to say oh I love you, I love you and that's all that matters. But no, we also have to trust one another. And if you don't trust somebody then don't make yourself that vulnerable, which we do. In sex we're very vulnerable to one another. 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