A 25-year-old Malian woman, who thought she was pregnant with septuplets, gives birth to… nine babies

A 25-year-old Malian who thought she was pregnant with septuplets gave birth to nine children on Tuesday (May 4th) in Casablanca, Morocco. The babies, weighing between 500 grams and 1 kilo, were taken care of in an intensive care unit and should remain there for several months.

She thought she was giving birth to seven children, she finally gave birth to nine babies! Halima Cissé, a 25-year-old Malian girl, is "doing well" but her premature newborns will remain in an intensive care unit for "two to three months" because of their low weight, reports AFP according to information from the Moroccan private clinic that assisted her.

Five girls and four boys

This kind of birth "is very rare, it's exceptional", declared Professor Youssef Alaoui, medical director of the Ain Borja clinic in Casablanca, without being able to confirm that this was a world record. Babies will remain "under supervision for two to three months until they have reached a mature weight," the facility manager said.

The multiple birth by caesarean section of the nine babies, five girls and four boys weighing from 500 grams to one kilo, was announced Tuesday, May 4 by a press release from the Malian Ministry of Health. The young mother, originally from Timbuktu, thought she was expecting septuplets based on ultrasounds done in Morocco and Mali, but the doctors "were surprised to see that they were nine in the end," said Youssef Alaoui.

35 caregivers mobilized for childbirth

The medically verified world record dates back to 2009, when American Nadya Suleman, since nicknamed "Octomum", gave birth to eight children at the age of 33. Halima Cissé was taken care of in Bamako and then transferred to Morocco on March 30 to be "better monitored" because of the risks associated with a pregnancy which "is out of the ordinary", according to the Malian press release.

She was "at 25 weeks when she was admitted (...), the medical staff intervened to prolong the pregnancy with daily monitoring" up to 30 weeks, said Youssef Alaoui. When she went into contractions on Tuesday, a medical team made up of ten doctors assisted by 25 paramedics was mobilized. Malian Minister of Health Fanta Siby hailed the "professionalism" of the "medical teams from Mali and Morocco".