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05th May 2021

Woman expecting to give birth to seven babies ends up having nine

Claudia McInerney

All nine babies are reportedly “doing well”.

A 25-year old woman has given birth to nonuplets, after doctors failed to spot two of her babies in an ultrasound.

Doctors initially said that the mum-of-nine would give birth to seven babies, rather than nine, after a recent scan.

Halima Cisse from Mali gave birth to nine newborns on Tuesday, who were delivered by caesarean section.

Cisse travelled to Morocco at the end of March to receive specialist care ahead of giving birth in the country. Before travelling, Cisse spent two weeks at a hospital in Mali’s capital, Bamako, according to Mali’s Health Minister, Fanta Siby.

The country’s Health Minister said: “The newborns (five girls and four boys) and the mother are all doing well.”

Doctors did not detect two of Cisse’s nine babies in the ultrasound scans.

Nonuplets are very rare. Possible medical complications linked to multiple births can mean that some of the babies do not reach full term.

The news comes after a woman gave birth on a plane mid-flight recently.

The woman was flying from Salt Lake City in Utah to Hawaii last week when she started to have contractions and subsequently gave birth to a baby boy on board.

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