South African woman gives birth to 10 babies breaks world record

A South African mother has given birth to ten babies at once, breaking a global record set last month. 

According to media reports, Gosiame Thamara Sithole, a 37-year-old mother of six-year-old twins, originally planned to have eight children, making her a rare “Octomom” like Californian Nadya Suleman. But she was surprised to see when 10 babies emerged.

Quoting Sithole’s husband, Teboho Tsotetsi, Pretoria News said that the doctors had detected eight babies during the medical scans, two less than the South African woman delivered on Monday night.

“It’s seven boys and three girls. She was seven months and seven days pregnant. I am happy. I am emotional. I can’t talk much. Let’s talk again in the morning please,” the local English daily quoted Tsotetsi as saying.

The Guinness World Records for most children delivered at a single birth to survive is currently held by Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to six boys and two girls in California, US, in 2009. Suleman’s babies were conceived with the aid of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment and were nine weeks premature when they were delivered by Caesarean section.

Last month, a 25-year-old Malian woman had given birth to nine babies, two more than doctors had detected during medical scans.