 Over the course of twenty years , Maria Theresa gave birth to sixteen children , thirteen of whom survived infancy . The first child , Maria Elisabeth ( 1737 – 1740 ) , was born a little less than a year after the wedding . Again , the child 's gender caused great disappointment and so would the births of Maria Anna , the eldest surviving child , and Maria Carolina ( 1740 – 1741 ) . While fighting to preserve her inheritance , Maria Theresa gave birth to a son named after Saint Joseph , to whom she had repeatedly prayed for a male child during the pregnancy . Maria Theresa 's favourite child , Maria Christina , was born on her 25th birthday , four days before the defeat of the Austrian army in <unk> . Five more children were born during the war : Maria Elisabeth , Charles , Maria Amalia , Leopold and Maria Carolina ( 1748 – 1748 ) . During this period , there was no rest for Maria Theresa during pregnancies or around the births ; the war and child @-@ bearing were carried on simultaneously . Five children were born during the peace between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years ' War : Maria Johanna , Maria Josepha , Maria Carolina , Ferdinand and Maria Antonia . She delivered her last child , Maximilian Francis , during the Seven Years ' War , aged 39 . Maria Theresa asserted that , had she not been almost always pregnant , she would have gone into battle herself . 
