Anastasia Merkulova worked on the Trans-Siberian Railway, the world’s longest railway, before going on maternity leave. She now has a large family, including a princess named Raisa and four princes. When doctors initially found only three babies, and then a fourth at 16 weeks, the heroic mother and her unprepared husband Alexander were not expecting a fifth delivery. Furthermore, it was revealed that they were all boys. The arrival of the fifth child via cesarean on August 22, 2017, in Vladivostok, came as a surprise.

She used Matvey and Ignat as examples, describing how both are gentle, affectionate, and peaceful. They enjoy being hugged, kissed, and cuddled. Savelyi, on the other hand, is not a big fan of hugs. We have to engage in play with him. Maxim has a strong sense of emotions and often shows excessive discontent. He would scream so loud every time he didn’t like something that the neighbors could hear him. The intelligent Raisa can play alone for a very long time. She loves him deeply and values him greatly. But perhaps things would have turned out differently.

To be frank, doctors advised her to have at least one abortion during her pregnancy. “The only doctor who helped me was one,” she said. “The best one is trying to scare me by saying that the babies ‘could be very ugly’ and that I should have used my money.”

Initially, they thought there were three, but when they saw that there were four, they proposed “removing” one of the babies, claiming that multiple pregnancies posed a danger to both the mother and the babies. “Every time I visit a different hospital, the staff tells me that I’m crazy and asks me, ‘What are you thinking? What’s the purpose of this?’ One of the doctors informed me late that they wouldn’t have let me have a baby at seven months if they had known we were five babies (like me).” The C-section will be completed soon. But the children benefit from having mom close by every day. The smallest one weighed 1.340 kilograms at birth. All of them weighed less than 2 kg.

Despite having the assistance of a mother’s helper when she returned home, the suggestion was significant. Every errand, every trip, every meal, every washing, etc., is like a long march for a paratrooper, but it only makes us stronger. She had to start a fire in her home and keep it running that first winter in order to stay afloat. Occasionally, she opens the window, turns off the stove, and lets in some fresh air before leaving the house. “I took the kids to the bathroom, opened the window, and we went on a three-hour walk. At that time, the house will undoubtedly be cold, so I’ll close the windows and turn on the stove. And it happens that way every day,” she said.