According to Babirye, her mother abandoned her family and five brothers three days following her birth.[7] When Babirye was seven years old and was away visiting a relative, her stepmother mixed cut glass into the food of her older siblings as a result of which all of them died.[7]

In 1993, a twelve year old Babirye was married off to a physically abusive 40 year old man, who was polygamous and already had multiple other wives.[6][8] Her father-in-law gave her family a piece of land to support themselves, and at the age of 13, she gave birth to twins, before giving birth to triplets two years later, and then a set of quadruplets a year and a half later.[6] She did not find this unusual, as multiple births were quite common in her family, saying:[6]

My father gave birth to forty-five children with different women, and these all came in quintuplets, quadruples, twins and triplets.

— Mariam Nabatanzi

After her sixth delivery, she approached a doctor about having no more children and was told that "attempting to stop her from having another child would lead to her early death."[8] At age 23, she had given birth to 25 children but was advised to continue having children because "(her) ovary count was still high."[8]

In 2015, Babirye's husband abandoned the family, unable to provide for 42 children,[9] but not before leaving her pregnant with twins; he later on sold off the homestead where Babirye and her children were living.[citation needed] She and her children were hosted by her grandmother, but when her grandmother died, her relatives allowed her to remain in the homestead to house her children.[10] As of April 2023, she still owes a balance on that homestead before she can assume full ownership.[10]

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5863884&forum_id=2...id..#49866947)