Halima Cisse, a 25-year-old woman from Mali, has welcomed nine babies at once — two more than what was revealed by ultrasound results during pregnancy.
Cisse gave birth to the nonuplets — four boys and five girls — through caesarean section in Morocco on Tuesday after she was flown there by Mali’s government to enable her access specialist care.
Adjudant Kader Arby, her husband, who spoke with BBC, expressed excitement at the development, noting that the babies and his wife are all in good condition.
“I’m very happy. My wife and the babies [five girls and four boys] are doing well. God gave us these children. He is the one to decide what will happen to them. I’m not worried about that. When the almighty does something, he knows why,” he said.
He also appreciated those who have supported his family, including the authorities in Mali.
“Everybody called me! Everybody called! The Malian authorities called expressing their joy. I thank them… Even the president called me,” he added.
Nadya Suleman, a woman from California in the US, holds the Guinness World Records for the most children delivered at a single birth to survive.
Suleman gave birth to eight babies — six boys and two girls — in 2019. The babies, conceived using in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, were delivered by caesarean section.
Her octuplets are said to have grown up and are now 12 years old.
This means Cisse could surpass Suleman’s feat if all her children also survive.
She is, however, not the first woman to welcome nine babies in history.
A woman is said to have welcomed nonuplets in Australia in 1971 while another also gave birth to the same in Malaysia in 1999.
None of the babies, however, survived more than a few days before they breathed their last.
The spotlight had beamed on Cisse after doctors revealed that she was carrying septuplets — a term for seven babies — during pregnancy.
But the development had sparked fears over the chances of her babies’ survival.
Fanta Siby, Mali’s health minister, said this had prompted the government’s intervention and the decision to transfer her to Morocco.
Bill Kalumi, a gynaecologist at Kenya’s Kenyatta National Hospital, told BBC that such rare condition might not be unconnected to fertility treatment.
Kalumi explains that fertility treatment could bring about the release of multiple eggs as opposed to one expected during a woman’s monthly cycle.
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