Pregnant Malian woman who was expecting seven babies gives birth to NINE

Pregnant Malian woman who was expecting seven babies gives birth to a world record NINE after medics missed two on the scans – and ALL five girls and four boys are ‘doing fine’

  • Halima Cisse, 25, gave birth to five girls and four boys in Morocco on Tuesday
  • She was expected to give birth to seven babies, an ultrasound originally showed
  • Nonuplets are extremely rare and medical complications are common
  • Ms Cisse was flown to Morocco to make sure the babies were delivered safely 

A Malian woman has given birth to nine babies after medics missed two on her scans and told her she would have seven, in what has potential to be a record.

Halima Cisse, 25, and all five girls and four boys are ‘doing fine’ after a cesarean section was carried out successfully in Morocco.

Should all nine babies survive, the case would break the current world record set by ‘Octomum’ Nadya Suleman in 2009, who gave birth to eight babies that survived. 

Ms Cisse was flown from the north of the poor West African state to Morocco to make sure the babies were delivered safely after the pregnancy attracted the attention of the West African nation’s leaders.

It is currently unclear if her pregnancy was due to In vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, which is one of the more common causes of multiple births, how much the babies weigh, or how far along she was in her pregnancy. 

Halima Cisse (pictured with the team that helped deliver her babies), 25, and all five girls and four boys are 'doing fine' after a cesarean section in Morocco

Halima Cisse (pictured with the team that helped deliver her babies), 25, and all five girls and four boys are 'doing fine' after a cesarean section in Morocco

Halima Cisse (pictured with the team that helped deliver her babies), 25, and all five girls and four boys are ‘doing fine’ after a cesarean section in Morocco

Moroccan health ministry spokesman Rachid Koudhari said he had no knowledge of such a multiple birth having taken place in one of the country’s hospitals.

But Mali’s health ministry said in a statement that Cisse had given birth to five girls and four boys by Caesarean section. 

‘The newborns (five girls and four boys) and the mother are all doing well,’ Mali’s health minister, Fanta Siby, said in a statement. 

The minister added that she had been kept informed by the Malian doctor who accompanied Cisse to Morocco.

They are due to return home in several weeks’ time, she added.

Siby offered her congratulations to ‘the medical teams of Mali and Morocco, whose professionalism is at the origin of the happy outcome of this pregnancy’. 

Cisse was expected to give birth to seven babies, according to ultrasounds conducted in Morocco and Mali that missed two of the siblings. 

All were delivered by caesarean section.

Cases of women successfully carrying septuplets to term are rare – and nonuplets even rarer – due to the strain multiple babies can put on the mother’s body. 

Ms Cisse was flown to Morocco to make sure the babies (pictured) were delivered safely after the pregnancy attracted the attention of the West African nation's leaders

Ms Cisse was flown to Morocco to make sure the babies (pictured) were delivered safely after the pregnancy attracted the attention of the West African nation's leaders

Ms Cisse was flown to Morocco to make sure the babies (pictured) were delivered safely after the pregnancy attracted the attention of the West African nation’s leaders

Ms Cisse's five daughters and four sons were all 'doing well', as was the mother, authorities said

Ms Cisse's five daughters and four sons were all 'doing well', as was the mother, authorities said

Ms Cisse’s five daughters and four sons were all ‘doing well’, as was the mother, authorities said

Medical complications in multiple births of this kind often mean that some of the babies do not reach full term.

The first recorded case of nonuplets came in Sydney in the 1970s, although sadly none of the babies survived, according to The Independent.

Another set of nonuplets were born on 26 March 1999, in Malaysia to Zurina Mat Saad. Like the case in the 1970s, none of the babies survived longer than six hours. 

In 2009, a woman in the US gave birth to octuplets – eight babies – with all surviving past birth, and by 2019, all had celebrated their tenth birthday.

Nadya Suleman, or 'Octomom' made headlines in the United States on January 26, 2009, when she gave birth to six boys and two girls in California.

Nadya Suleman, or 'Octomom' made headlines in the United States on January 26, 2009, when she gave birth to six boys and two girls in California.

Nadya Suleman, or ‘Octomom’ made headlines in the United States on January 26, 2009, when she gave birth to six boys and two girls in California.

Nadya Suleman, or ‘Octomom’ made headlines in the United States on January 26, 2009, when she gave birth to six boys and two girls in California.

The babies were all a result of IVF treatment, and were nine weeks premature when they were delivered by Caesarean section.

To this day. the octuplets are still the only full set of eight babies born alive in the United States, and after one week after their birth they surpassed the previous worldwide survival rate for octuplets.

Before the record-breaking birth, Suleman already had six children, who were also conceived via IVF treatment.

The doctor who delivered the embryos, and who implanted twelve embryos in Suleman’s womb, had his license revoked in 2011 after charges were brought against him in relation to the octuplet’s conception.  

In a more recent case, a woman in Texas gave birth to sextuplets – two sets of twin boys and one pair of twin girls – in 2019. 

HOW CAN A WOMAN GIVE BIRTH TO NINE BABIES? 

In theory there is no limit for how many babies a pregnant woman can carry in her womb at once, scientists say.

But the chances of high-order multiple gestation — carrying four or more babies — happening spontaneously is extremely rare. It is more common through IVF.

For example, just five sets of quadruplets are born each year in the UK — meaning it occurs in only around one in every 150,000 pregnancies, data suggests.

Italian doctors in the 1970s claimed to remove 15 foetuses from the womb of a 35-year-old woman, the BBC claims.

But just weeks before, an Australian woman gave birth to nontuplets — five boys and four girls. Two were stillborn and the rest died within a week.

The largest set of babies to be born in one go and to survive past infancy is eight. A Californian woman, Natalie Suleman, was nicknamed ‘Octomom’ after giving birth to her brood in 2009.

Ms Suleman, who already had six children through IVF, had 12 embryos leftover. Her doctor implanted all of them inside her womb at once.

Her case sparked a fierce debate over IVF regulation, with the fertility specialist who carried out the procedure stripped of his medical licence. 

When mothers are carrying more than one baby at once the risk of the pregnancy going wrong is higher, and this generally increases the more babies there are.

The mother is more likely to develop anaemia, pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes if she is pregnant with two or more babies, because developing them puts extra strain on the body.

And multiple-baby pregnancies are also more likely to be born prematurely, with over 60 per cent of twins and almost all births of triplets or more taking place before the 37 weeks is completed, according to Beaumont Health, a healthcare provider in Michigan, US.

This may be because of the complications above, which are both more likely in multiple pregnancies and also raise the risk of premature birth. It can also be triggered by problems with the placenta(s), which are more likely to face difficulties and may lead to slow growth.

The fact that multiple-baby pregnancies are more likely to end prematurely means that the children at a higher risk of problems after birth.

Premature babies are often under-developed and may need hospital care to keep them safe as their hearts and lungs finish growing.

Premature babies are at a higher risk of various serious health conditions including cerebral palsy, learning difficulties, vision or hearing problems, behavioural issues or asthma or infections, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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