It is a story about a couple who, to date, have had 10 children, nine of whom were all born on the same day. That’s right: not just twins … but nine babies born in one day!
Abdelkader Arby’s children and his wife are as fit as fiddles and the children have just turned one year old.
Breaking every record, is this couple from Mali – now famous all over the world for having nine children all born on the same day. The father, Abdelkader Arby, says he is very happy with the births and the fact that, after a year, the little ones are all doing well, despite the odds being against it. All the babies, five girls and four boys, were born at the 30 week mark via cesarean section, and all weighed between 500g and 1kg.
It was, of course, a risky and absolutely unique birthing event: Halima Cissé, the 26-year-old mother of the children, was transported to a hospital in Morocco – at the expense of the Malian government – to receive specialist care.
Currently, the family lives in a house where they are offered full medical care, which is provided by the same clinic where the children were born: “There are nurses, in addition to my wife, who help take care of the children.”
Arby explained, “the clinic has provided them with a nutrition program that tells us what to feed them at any time, night and day.”
This is a certainly challenging situation but also very beautiful and joyous: the babies and the mother are still doing very well, even many months after giving birth.
And what about the little ones?
“They all have different characters,” explained the parents .
“some are quiet, while others make more noise and cry a lot. Some want to be filmed all the time. They are all very different, which is completely normal.”
She almost died from blood loss during the delivery, with doctors estimating that her belly alone weighed almost 30 kg, made up of the babies and amniotic fluid.
He said: ‘Being together as a family is the best thing in the world, and we give thanks to God all the time. The most important thing is that we are all safe and well, and in great hands.’
The couple married in 2017 and also have another daughter, Souda, two-and-a half who is being looked after by relatives.
Kader is a sailor in the Malian Navy and admitted that looking after his family would be financially ‘challenging’.
They live in a modest three-bedroom house which he said they would now have to expand to accommodate their ten children.
‘There is plenty of us to worry about, but we are mainly full of positive thoughts,’ said Kader, ‘We are primarily focused on looking after our babies and getting them home. At the moment we have full time care, and that’s a blessing because my wife needs the rest.’
The father of the little ones also wanted to wish to best to all those couples who are trying to have children: “I hope God blesses all those who do not yet have children – may they have what we, the parents of nonuplets, currently have. . It’s beautiful, a real treasure. ”
