Kader Arby, 36, along with wife Halima Cisse, 27, from Mali, set a new world record last year when Halima flew to Casablanca, Morocco to birth a whopping nine children at the Ain Borja hospital
They were born on May 4, 2021 – breaking the previous record of eight babies born to Nadya Suleman of the USA, also called Octomom, in 2009.
Dad Abdelkader Arby said: ‘They’re all crawling now. Some are sitting up and can even walk if they hold on to something.’
Although he admits ‘it’s not easy’, he said he is happy to see ‘all the babies in perfect health’.
They live in a clinic-owned, specifically fitted flat where nurses are on hand to assist and ensure the newborns follow a strict diet to ensure they get all the nutrients they need.
There are five girls – Adama, Oumou, Hawa, Kadidia, Fatouma – and four boys – Oumar, Elhadji, Bah and Mohammed VI were joined on their first birthday party by big sister Souda, three, a complement of hardworking nurses and lots of cake and candles to be blown out
They were born prematurely via caesarean section 30 weeks into Halima’s pregnancy.
Doctors first estimated she would have seven children, but after she was sent to the Ain Borja Clinic for specialty care, two more were discovered.
It was just a year ago that they emerged into this world from a fraught labour weighing between 1lb 2oz (500g) and 2lb 2oz and delivered by a squad of ten doctors, 25 paramedics and 18 nurses.
Nonuplets are extremely rare and no cases of all babies surviving after the birth for more than a few hours have ever previously been recorded.
To assist them survive, the youngsters were placed in incubators as soon as they were born and remained under the care of Khalil Msaif, the clinic’s paediatric neonatologist, for several months.
‘The newborns and the mother are all doing well,’ Mali’s health minister, Dr Fanta Siby, said shortly after the birth.
Dad Abdelkader, a sailor in the Malian Navy, stayed in Mali during the birth to look after the couple’s three-year-old daughter, Souda.
When he was reunited with his family in October 2021, he said: ‘All of them are getting on very well and are a joy to look after.’
