Quintuplet is a term that is used to refer to a set of five children who are born together, with this kind of a birth is referred to as a multiple birth. Of all the different forms of multiple births, the birth of twins is the most common in humans. The birth of a set of five children and more is very rare, though it has been recorded to occur in many parts of the world (Katherine. 1994). Cases of multiple births (twins and triplets) have been increasing over time, a situation that has been attributed to several factors.
These factors include; the increased rate of in-vitro fertilization, fertility drug use, and the preference of women to have children at an older age. For instance, the overall rate of occurrence in multiple births was estimated to have doubled in 1999 as compared to the previous years. In addition, the birth rate for quintuplets in the United States in 2004 was estimated to be 2 births per 1000. The number of individuals who were born as quintuplets in the same year was eighty six.In this paper, the story of the Dionne quintuplets, well known as the Dionne sisters will be discussed. Discussion The Dionne Sisters Lives The Dionne sisters is a set of five girls who were born in the Canadian village of Corbeil in May 23, 1934.
They were born prematurely (after seven months of pregnancy) and were given the names Yvonne, Marie, Emilie, Cecile, and Annettee. The girls were born in a poor family, which made it very difficult for their parents to bring them up since they had five older siblings (Brough. 1964).This attracted fair exhibitors who wanted to sign a contract with the girls’ father so that they would display the girls in a fair.
The father, Oliva, would benefit partly from the revenue that would be generated when the girls were displayed. The girls were displayed in the fairs, after being put in a special facility which was located in the fair grounds. The display of the premature babies in the fair for financial gains attracted public criticism, which made the Ontario government to intervene by obtaining the custody of the girls (Dionne, Cecile et al. 997).
The aim of the government was to protect the girls from financial exploitation. However, the government got involved in the exploitation of the girls for money by putting them in a nursery opposite the Dafoe Hospital. The girls attracted many numbers of tourists who visited the observation gallery. For example, about 6,000 tourists were estimated to visit the gallery on daily basis, so as to watch the girls play. Between 1936 and 1943, about three million people visited the gallery, with revenue of about $51 million being generated in 1934.The nurses took care of the girls because they had been cut off from their family.
In addition, the girls did not interact with the other people and their fame had their images used in commercial advertisements. They even starred in several films such as the “Country Doctor” of 1936 and the “Quintupland” of 1938 (Talbot. 2007) The girls went to live with their family in 1943 after the parents won custody. The 20-room mansion house in which they lived in together with the other members of the family was paid for using the quintuplets’ funds (Brough. 964).
One of the girls, Emilie, joined a convent and died of suffocation after an epileptic seizure in August 6, 1954. Marie died in February 27, 1970 after a blood clot in the brain, while Yvonne died in June 23, 2001 after suffering from a cancer. The Dionne Sisters’ Parents The Dionne sisters’ father was known as Oliva, while the mother Elizre. The two had five children before Elizre delivered the Dionne quintuplets. As parents, they experienced financial difficulties in bringing up the children since they were very poor.
The financial problems that the family was experiencing encouraged the father to sign a contract with some fair exhibitors. The agreement was meant to allow the exhibitors to display the five girls in a fair, where the father would benefit financially from this. The parents had the custody of the girls withdrawn from them by the Ontario government much later. The two parents and the other members of the family lacked family interaction with the Dionne sisters, because the girls lived in the nursery under the custody of the Ontario government (Brough. 964).This made the girls look upon the nurses who took care of them as the maternal parents.
Statistics According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of live multiple births in United States was 139,816 in 2005 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2005). For the quintuplets and the higher order births, the number was estimated to be sixty eighty . The rate of multiple births decreased in 2005, as compared to that of 2004.Between 2004 and 2005, the number of Quintuplets deliveries dropped with about thirteen sets of quintuplets recorded in the United States according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Conclusion The birth of quintuplets remains rare and one of the wonders of the world. Over the years, the birth of quintuplets has been recorded to occur in various parts of the world. However, there is a high mortality rate for children born during the high order births as compared to those born as twins or single. Some children have not been lucky to survive, but the Dionne sisters were lucky to have survived infancy.
