Arthur Greene
When 25-year-old Halima Cisse visited local doctors for a routine scan, she was speechless when they told her that she was pregnant with seven children – known as septuplets.
However, it now appears that they had in fact missed two more children after Halima gave birth to nine healthy babies in what is thought to be a world record for the most children in a single birth to survive.
Halima’s babies were delivered in a Moroccan hospital on Wednesday, after the Mali government flew the mother-of-ten to the north African country for specialist care.
After spending two weeks in a hospital in Mali’s capital, Bamako, Halima’s doctors worried for the welfare of the mother and her unborn children, so they had her transferred to a Morroccan hospital on 30 March.
The nonuplets – five girls and four boys – were all delivered safely by caesarean section.
Halima’s husband, Adjudant Kader Arby, told the BBC, “I’m very happy! My wife and the babies are doing well.”
Adjudant has remained in Mali with the couple’s older daughter, and he says they have remained in constant touch with Halima.
“Everybody called me! Everybody called! The Malian authorities called expressing their joy. I thank them… Even the president called me,” the ecstatic father-of-ten said.
Previously an only child, their daughter now has nine younger siblings to look out for!
The first known instance of nonuplets happened in 1971 in Sydney, but none of those children survived. Another set of nonuplets were born in Malaysia in 1999, but none survived for more than a few hours.
The previous record for the most babies to be born at the same time and survive was eight. A woman in the US gave birth to octuplets in 2009, who turned 12 this year.
Picture source: @hallaboutafrica
