This is a first in the world: it is the first single birth and survival of nonuplets in the world. Halima Cisse, a Malian woman, has given birth to nonuplets, 5 girls and 4 boys, in a hospital in Morocco. They were conceived naturally. Initially, the medical teams both in Mali and then later in Morocco thought she was expecting septuplets, and so they were all surprised to find 9 babies in the end. I salute the wisdom of the country’s leader who saw fit to have her transferred to Morocco for more advanced specialist care… this shows great empathy. Excerpts below are from an article on the Guardian. Congratulations to the proud parents… it is indeed a grace!

====

Halima Cisse’s nonuplets all ‘doing well so far’ after delivery by caesarean section at Moroccan hospital.

A Malian woman has given birth to nine babies – all “doing well so far” – in what is thought to be a world record for the most children in a single birth to survive.

Halima Cisse had been expected to give birth to seven babies, but ultrasounds conducted in Morocco and Mali had missed two of the siblings. The nonuplets – five girls and four boys – were all were delivered by caesarean section.

The 25-year-old’s pregnancy has fascinated the west African nation and attracted the attention of its leaders. When doctors said in March that Cisse needed specialist care, the country’s transitional leader, Bah Ndaw, ordered that she be sent to Morocco.

“The mother and babies are doing well so far,” Mali’s health minister, Fanta Siby, told Agence France-Presse, adding 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.

… Doctors had been concerned about Cisse’s health and her babies’ chances of survival, according to local press reports. Nonuplets are extremely rare and medical complications in multiple births of this kind often mean that some of the babies do not survive.

In pictures widely shared on social media, Cisse could be seen smiling, celebrating with her doctors near her nine children, held in a row of incubators at the hospital.

Cisse’s husband, Adjudant Kader Arby, still in Mali with the couple’s older daughter, told BBC Afrique he had been in constant touch with his wife and he was not worried about the future.

“God gave us these children,” he said. “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.”