Mali: 25-year-old woman gives birth to 9 babies

In Mali, West Africa, a woman gave birth to nine babies at once — after expecting seven. Doctors were also not expecting nine babies. Because only seven babies were detected in a woman's womb during pregnancy.It appeared to be the first time on record that a woman had given birth to nine surviving babies at once.

The delivery of 25-year-old Halima Cisse has surprised everyone.  Doctors told Halima Cisse in March of this year that she needed to be very careful. Authorities then took her to Morocco, where she gave birth to the babies by cesarean section on Tuesday at a local hospital in Morocco.

According tp Mali's health ministerthe babies included five girls and four boys. The five girls and four boys, and their mother, “are all doing well,” Mali’s health minister said in a statement.

Lead ultrasound was also performed in Morocco and Mali during her pregnancy. On seeing the ultrasound, the doctor saw only seven babies. But doctors could not track the two babies in the ultrasound.

Cisse gave birth prematurely at 30 weeks and is now in stable condition after heavy bleeding for which she was given a blood transfusion, doctors said. The babies weigh between 500 grams and one kilogram (1.1 and 2.2 pounds).

The Guinness Book of World Records said in an email to The AP on Wednesday that its current record for most living births at once is eight, and that it is verifying the Morocco birth.