Morocco: a Malian gives birth to nine babies, a world first
In Morocco, a Malian woman gave birth to nine babies.
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An exceptional childbirth after a pregnancy which had aroused the stir in Mali and a surge of solidarity to evacuate the mother.
Halima Cissé, 25, from Timbuktu, was transported to Morocco at the end of March for very close follow-up.
The young woman expected to have seven children.
She gave birth to nine babies on Tuesday by cesarean section.
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It was the Malian transitional government that first announced it.
The information was taken up in many media.
Nine babies alive at birth, an officially world first, exceptional, but it is also very fragile.
The mother, Halima Cissé, was evacuated at the end of March from Mali to Morocco.
On ultrasound, seven babies were visible, which already represented a high-risk pregnancy.
Halima Cissé is taken care of in the private clinic Aïn Borja in Casablanca.
At the end of March, she was five and a half months pregnant, too early to give birth, despite already strong contractions.
Everything is done to save time.
Five weeks later, a new risk assessment for the children as for the mother and it is at this stage that a cesarean delivery is decided.
The gynecologist Mourad Yazid says he extracted quickly and without difficulty first seven babies who weighed between 700 grams and one kilo each.
He then tries to remove the remaining placenta and discovers two small heads, two additional babies, also alive, of 500 gr each.
They are currently under close surveillance, followed by three pediatricians.
The greatest risk is infection or internal bleeding, as their organs are very fragile.
The nine children, five girls and four boys, and their mother, Halima Cissé, who herself spent 24 hours in intensive care, is due to meet again this Thursday afternoon.
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Mali
Morocco