A woman from Mali has given birth to nonuplets – nine babies – after a successful operation in Morocco on May 4, Mali's Ministry of Health and Social Development of Mali has announced. Twenty-five-year-old Halima Cisse was expecting seven children after an ultrasound highlighted an extreme number of fetuses in her womb, but received more than she bargained for after giving birth to five girls and four boys via cesarean section at 30 weeks.  

“The Minister of Health and Social Development is pleased to announce that this day May 04, 2021, H. Cisse gave birth, by cesarean section, of nine (9) newborns instead of seven (7) announced by the results of ultrasounds made in Mali as in Morocco. The newborns (five girls and four boys) and the mother are all doing well.” states the announcement by the Government of Mali.  

Mali's government flew her to Morocco for specialist care due to the unusual number of babies. All the newborns and the mother are now doing well and will remain in the Moroccan clinic for the remainder of the care period. A team of 10 doctors and 25 paramedics assisted the delivery of the premature births, AP reports. They each weighed between 550g and 1 kilogram (1.1- 2.2 pounds). The babies will be under intense monitoring for the next 2-3 months as multiple-fetus pregnancies often result in poor outcomes for some of the children. However, this case does mark just the third time in recorded history a set of nonuplets were born. 

The Guinness Book of Records is currently verifying the birth, it told AP. The current record-holder is American Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to eight premature but healthy children in 2009.

Multiple births may result from either one fertilized egg that subsequently splits to form multiple, identical fetuses, or it may occur from more than one egg becoming fertilized. In rare cases, a combination of both can also result in multiple births. It is often the result of fertility treatment. It is currently unknown how the nonuplets occurred, but it is certainly an extremely rare event. 

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