The Ministry of Health of Mali marked an incredible event with a cute photoshopped image. A 25-year-old woman in Mali successfully delivered nine babies at once – two more than doctors expected when they saw only seven on the ultrasound.
Halima Sissé actually gave birth in Morocco, where the Malian authorities sent her to a special hospital. “I’m happy, very, very happy,” the father of the newborns admitted in an interview with the BBC. “My wife and children [five girls and four boys] are feeling great.”
Niner is an extremely rare phenomenon that is usually associated with complications that result in the death of the infant. Doctors know of two such cases – in Australia in 1971 and in Malaysia in 1999, and in both cases none of the children survived. In 2009, an American woman gave birth to eight children, all of whom survived. They were conceived through in vitro fertilization.
Mali’s Minister of Health, Fanta Siby, congratulated the doctors from both countries on the successful outcome. Halima Sisse became an object of worship throughout Mali, even during her pregnancy, when doctors believed she was expecting seven children. However, specialists were concerned about her health and the children’s chances of survival, so the authorities decided to intervene.
After the expectant mother spent two weeks in a Bamako hospital, the decision was made on March 30 to transfer her to a Moroccan clinic. And there, five weeks later, she had a C-section. Halima’s husband, Adjudand Kadyr Arbi, is still in Mali with their eldest daughter, but says he is in constant contact with his wife in the hospital and is not worried about the future of their unexpectedly large family. “The Lord has sent us these children, so it is up to Him to decide what will happen to them next,” he said in an interview with the BBC African Service. “I am not worried at all because when the Almighty does something, His ways are beyond comprehension.”
“They called me, literally everyone! – he says. – The authorities called to tell me how happy they were for us, and I thanked them. Even the president called me. The mother and her nine newborns are expected to return home in a few weeks.