A couple with seven children decided to try for one more and ended up with quintuplets, leaving them with 12 kids in total.
Vince Clarke and wife Dominika, from Poland, already had two sets of twins, Antoinette and Ziggy, 7, and Alexander and Charlotte, 4, plus Philip 12, Elliot, 10, and 10-month-old Grace.
Dominika has now given birth to three girls and two boys, named Arianna Daisy, Charles Patrick, Elizabeth May, Evangeline Rose and Henry James.
They were born on Sunday, February 12, at University Hospital in Krakow, Poland.
Mathematician Dominika, 37, called the birth of their quintuplets a “miracle”.
Vince, 55, from Britain, described how his wife broke the news to him.
The software engineer said: She phoned from hospital and said I think you’d better sit down. Then she said I’ve got a bit of a surprise.
He added: We were on a very good diet of juices and low fat food. We are pretty sure that diet played a part.
Dominika said they had been planning to have an eighth child but there turned out to be more.
The babies were delivered by caesarean section at 29 weeks and each weighed between 1lb 9oz to 3lb 1oz.
They still require respiratory support but are stable. Ryszard Lauterbach, head of the neonatal department, said: We hope we can arrive at the joyful moment of discharging them.
Former English and maths teacher Dominika said they left for Puchacze, Poland, six years ago for a different life after 13 years together in England.
Vince said of the new arrivals: We’ll cope. My wife and I didn’t plan for five but we are very happy and the other children are excited too. We have a huge house.