Woman Gives Birth to 9 Babies at Once After Only Expecting 7: 'God Gave Us These Children,' Says Husband

Halima Cisse, 25, welcomed five girls and four boys via caesarean section in Morocco on Tuesday, according to Mali's top health official

By Gabrielle Chung
Published on May 5, 2021 06:00PM EDT
Halima Cisse
Nurses takes care of one of the nine babies protected in an incubator. Photo: Abdeljalil Bounhar/AP/Shutterstock

A Malian woman has given birth to nine babies at once — two more than what doctors previously expected, according to Mali's top health official.

On Tuesday, 25-year-old Halima Cisse welcomed five girls and four boys via caesarean section in Morocco, Dr. Fanta Siby, Mali's minister of health and social development, announced in a statement.

The mom and her newborns are "all doing well," Siby said.

Halima Cisse
Abdeljalil Bounhar/AP/Shutterstock

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Cisse was first admitted to a hospital in Mali's capital of Bamako, but was transferred to a Moroccan clinic on March 30 after an ultrasound showed that she was expecting seven babies and needed special care for her unique situation.

Youssef Alaoui, the director of the facility where Cisse gave birth, told Moroccan state TV that they had been contacted by Malian doctors about the case a month and a half ago — but were not expecting nine babies, the Associated Press reported.

Halima Cisse
AFP via Getty

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Cisse gave birth prematurely at 30 weeks and is now in stable condition after experiencing heavy bleeding, for which she was given a blood transfusion, according to Alaoui.

Alaoui told that AP that as far as he was aware, Cisse had not used any fertility treatments.

In addition to her newborns, Cisse also shares an older daughter with her husband, Adjudant Kader Arbym, the BBC reported.

Halima Cisse
Abdeljalil Bounhar/AP/Shutterstock
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"God gave us these children. He is the one to decide what will happen to them. I'm not worried about that," Arby told BBC Afrique. "When the almighty does something, he knows why."

The former record for most children delivered in a single birth to survive is held by Nadya Suleman of the United States, who gave birth to eight kids in 2009, according to the Guinness World Records.

A spokesperson for Guinness World Records did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.