A 37-year-old woman in South Africa has given birth to 10 babies, the BBC is reporting. Gosiame Thamara Sithole was due to give birth to eight babies according to their most recent scan, but were shocked when Sithole birthed decuplets.
‘It's seven boys and three girls. I am happy. I am emotional. I can't talk much," Sithole’s husband, Teboho Tsotetsi, told Pretoria News after the birth. He had previously told the publication he felt like ‘one of God's chosen children’ and ‘It's a miracle which I appreciate.’
Guinness world record are said to be investigating, as the births could be a new world record for the most children delivered at a single birth to survive. In 2009, a woman in the US gave birth to eight children and currently holds the record. However, last month, 25-year-old Halima Cissé from Mali gave birth to nine babies, with reports stating all children are doing well at a clinic in Morocco.
While most births involved more than three babies are often the result of fertility treatments, and are incredibly rare, the couple say they conceived naturally to birth all 10 children. They already have two children, twins that are six years old.
Sithole told Pretoria News she was continuously worried about her latest pregnancy, which was ‘tough at the beginning’ and resulted in sleepless nights. ‘How would they fit in the womb?’ she said she asked herself, as well as fearing whether or not they would survive.
According to Sithole, during her last scan when only eight babies were noted, doctors told her two of them were ‘in the wrong tube’ which was causing her pain. ‘That was sorted and I have been okay since then,’ she said prior to the birth – adding ‘I can't wait for my children.’
Nonuplets, which is when nine babies are born at a time, have only been medically recorded twice before – however none of the babies survived more than a few days until Cissé’s nonuplets were born last month.
2021, the year of the never-ending births?
Read More:
One Of Phoebe Buffay’s Triplets Has Grown Up To Be A TikTok Star
Here’s Why Pregnant People Should Stop Listening To Those Traumatic Birth Stories