Malian woman was expecting to give birth to seven babies, but wound up birthing nine, the Mali minister of health said.
In a world-record birth, a Malian woman gave birth to nine babies, otherwise referred to as nonuplets, according to reports. Halima Cissé, 25, gave birth to her babies by caesarean section on Tuesday in Morocco, a top health official from Mali announced.
Cissé was expecting to be the mother to seven babies, but in an exceptional turn of events, she gave birth to a total of nine, marking the first recorded birth of this magnitude. Ultrasound technologies reportedly failed to detect two of the babies.
She is now the mother to five girls and four boys. They were born at 30 weeks and their weights were between 1.1 to 2.2 pounds, Professor Youssef Alaoui, medical director of the private clinic, told reporters at the scene, NPR reported.
The birth took place in Morocco because hospitals in Mali, where Cissé is from, is one of the world's poorest countries and would not be equipped to properly care for the expecting mother, ABC News reported.
The Malian government helped pay for her medical evacuation to Morocco, according to NPR.
Cissé suffered a severe hemorrhage related to the expansion of her uterus but is now in stable condition, according to reports.
Her husband is "very happy" and said that "everybody called" him following the birth, including the president.
A Guinness World Records representative told NPR that, "we are yet to verify this as a record as the well-being of both the mother and babies are of top priority."
The organization told the outlet it's looking into the possible new record and even hired a specialist consultant for the case.
