Fact check: Can pregnancy last for three and half years?
Claim: In an interview published by Saturday PUNCH on August 29, 2024, an Islamic cleric and Missioner of the Ilorin Emirate Development Progressive Union in the Republic of Benin, Alhaji Yahaya Nafiu, claimed that his wife gave birth to 11 babies in two tranches and that the pregnancy lasted for three and a half years.
He said, “My wife, Chognika Latoyossi Alake, who is a native of Ajasse-Cotonou in Benin Republic, gave birth to 11 children in Porto Novo in two tranches. She first delivered six – five boys and one girl – on 6th and 7th July 2024.
“On August 14, she gave birth to another five boys. Unfortunately, one of the girls from the first set passed away about one and a half hours after birth, and we later lost another baby. Currently, we have nine surviving children, and they have all been named.
“Latoyossi is my third wife. I had two wives before marrying her. She was previously married and had three children in her first union. She became pregnant nine years after having her last child. This particular pregnancy lasted for about three and a half years.”
Findings:
The cleric, a 54-year-old indigene of the Onikeke compound, Popo Giwa area of Ilorin, Kwara State, resides in the Benin Republic with his family.
He said his wife gave birth to the babies at a traditional birth attendant’s home in Porto Novo. However, his family has faced financial challenges due to the significant cost of caring for the babies.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the United States defines pregnancy as the period in which a foetus develops inside a woman’s womb or uterus.
It states that pregnancy typically lasts for about 40 weeks, or just over nine months, as measured from the last menstrual period to delivery.
Healthcare providers divide pregnancy into three stages, called trimesters.
The institute explains that the first trimester (Week 1 to Week 12) is the early stage of pregnancy when fertilisation occurs. The second trimester (Week 13 to Week 28) is the middle stage when an ultrasound can reveal the baby’s sex.
Around 20 weeks, a woman may begin to feel fetal movements, and by 24 weeks, the fetus footprints and fingerprints form, with regular sleep and wake cycles.
During the third trimester (Week 29 to Week 40), at around 32 weeks, the foetus bones become soft but nearly fully formed, and the baby’s eyes can open and close as the mother approaches delivery.
Since the cleric’s interview, many have questioned how it could be possible for a woman to carry a baby for more than a year, given that the placenta, which nourishes the baby, typically begins to deteriorate around the 10-month mark, after the three trimesters have ended.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr James Odofin, stated that it is both physiologically and naturally impossible for a woman to carry a pregnancy for three years.
He said, “God is not an author of confusion. The duration of pregnancy, known since time immemorial, is nine months. At most, it can extend to 42 weeks. So, any claim of a pregnancy lasting for one year, two years, or three years are not physiologically or naturally possible.
“The reason is that the functions of the placenta reduce after a certain period. There is a process known as placental senescence, which means the placenta ages. As a result, its functions, such as providing nutrition, oxygen, and waste removal from the mother to the baby, begin to decline. If anyone claims a pregnancy lasted for several years or beyond nine or ten months, then something is wrong.”
Odofin explained that in cases where a pregnancy seems to exceed nine months, it often happens that women do not experience their period for up to three or six months due to various gynaecological reasons but may mistakenly believe they are pregnant when they are not.
“Some women may have polycystic ovary syndrome, where there are issues with ovulation. As a result, they do not ovulate at the usual time. Ovulation typically occurs about two weeks before a woman’s next period or menstrual cycle. The normal cycle is 28 days, plus or minus seven days. However, some women may not have their period within this timeframe and may see their period only every three months. So, imagine a woman who hasn’t seen her period for two or three months but isn’t pregnant.
“If she becomes pregnant in the fourth month, she might count the initial three months as part of the pregnancy period. In the end, she could claim to have carried the pregnancy for 12 months. But scientifically and physiologically, it is impossible for a woman to carry a pregnancy for three and a half years. That’s not how God designed it,” he explained.
Corroborating this, another consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician, Dr Egbogu Stanley, added that while people may fabricate various stories, it is impossible for a woman to carry a pregnancy for even 10 months, as the baby would die in the womb.
He said, “Claims of a pregnancy lasting more than nine months are a blatant lie. Regarding the number of babies, sometimes, people have multiple births. I’ve seen up to five in my practice. People claim to have had eight, nine, or even 10 babies, but I’ve not seen such cases. You also have to consider where the babies would fit. Nevertheless, it’s still reasonable to have that many. But what makes the man’s claim completely false is that his wife carried the babies for three and a half years. That is completely impossible. Even the claim of carrying a baby for one year is false.
“To verify this, ask the man for the hospital where his wife delivered the babies, and check the hospital’s records. Look at the day his wife registered, when she delivered, and how many babies she had. You will find that the story is fabricated. It’s simply not possible.”
He added, “Quote me anywhere. If a baby stays in a woman’s womb for close to 10 months, the baby will die. That’s why no doctor allows a pregnancy to exceed 10 months. Once the expected delivery date is passed, we only wait one or two weeks at most before inducing labour or performing a caesarean section. It is even unethical for a gynaecologist to allow a woman to go more than two weeks past her due date. A doctor could be sued for that.”
