Anastasia Merkulova had been employed on the Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest railway in the world, prior to taking maternity leave. She now has a large family, including a princess named Raisa and her four princes. When the doctors initially discovered only three children, but later identified a fourth at 16 weeks, the brave mother and her husband Alexander were not fully prepared for the fifth delivery. Additionally, it was unexpected that there would be four boys. The arrival of the fifth child via Caesarean section on August 22, 2017, in Vladivostok came as a surprise revelation.
Using Matvey and Ignat as examples, Anastasia describes them as gentle, affectionate, and peaceful. They enjoy receiving hugs, kisses, and cuddles. On the other hand, Savelyi is not particularly fond of cuddling, so we engage in play with him instead. Maxim is highly sensitive and often expresses discontent. Whenever he dislikes something, he would scream so loudly that perhaps even the neighbors could hear him. The intelligent Raisa, on the other hand, can entertain herself for extended periods. She holds deep affection for her father and greatly values him. However, perhaps things could have turned out differently.
To be straightforward, doctors advised her to undergo at least one abortion during her pregnancy. “The only doctor who supported me was one,” she stated. “The rest tried to frighten me by saying that the children ‘could be born ugly’ and that I should have used my brain.”
Initially, they believed there were three babies, but upon discovering there were four, they suggested “removing” one of the infants, claiming that multiple pregnancies posed risks to both the mother and the babies. “Every time I visited a different hospital, the staff referred to me as crazy and questioned, ‘What are you thinking? What’s the purpose of this?’ One of the physicians later informed me that they wouldn’t have allowed me to carry the baby to seven months if they had known there were five babies (as I did).” The C-section will be performed sooner. However, the children benefit from having their mom by their side every day. The smallest baby weighs 1,340 kilograms at birth, and all of them weigh less than 2 kg.
Even with the assistance of her mother-in-law upon returning home, the recovery from surgery was significant. Every task, every outing, every meal, every wash, and so on felt like a challenging march for a paratrooper, but it only made them stronger. During the first winter, she had to start a fire in her home and keep it burning to stay warm. Instead of leaving the house, she occasionally opens the window to let in fresh air and turns off the stove. “I dress the kids, open the window, and we go for a three-hour ‘walk. Of course, the house gets cold during that time, so I close the windows and relight the stove. And it happens like that every day,” she explained.
