Woman gives birth twice in one year

4 January 2006

BRUSSELS — Amid reports of an upsurge in births in 2005, it has also been revealed that one Flemish woman gave birth twice last year.

School teacher Griet Maes, of Wezemaal, gave birth to her daughter Hannah in January 2005 and gave birth to her second daughter, Clara, in December.

Maes and her new arrival were allowed to leave the Gasthuisberg University Hospital in Leuven on Tuesday. Clara was a healthy baby and weighed 3,450g and was 51cm long.

“An easy delivery. But two children in the same year is very hard. I need time now to recover,” Maes told newspaper ‘Het Nieuwsblad’.

“Hannah was a born a month too early and is a small, fine girl. I think that Clara might quickly overtake her. They will go to the same class and might be able pose as twins.”

Maes’ story emerged amid reports that the number of births in Flanders rose in 2005 as the trend away from a declining number of births continued.

Some 62,481 babies were born in Flemish hospitals last year, a rise of 1.8 percent, newspaper ‘De Standaard’ reported.

The number of births had declined for years as women opted to have fewer children and the number of women at a fertile age declined.

However, the trend has been reversed. In 2003, there were 58,853 births, but 62,481 children were born last year, a rise of 1.8 percent compared with 2004.

The increase was most noticeable in Flemish Brabant (up 4 percent) and West Flanders (up 2.6 percent). The increase was smallest in the province of Limburg (0.3 percent).

Meanwhile, the Natal Study Centre said the actual number of babies born in Flanders last year was about 64,000. This figure takes into account the babies born at home and the birth of twins.

Subject: Belgian news