Photo Credit: Guinness World Record/Instagram
Halima Cissé is feeling nostalgic. The Malian mum made global headlines back in 2021 when she gave birth to nine beautiful babies at once, and now, four years later, she’s taking a moment to look back on the journey.
She and her partner, Abdelkader Arby, recently celebrated the 4th birthday of their miracle babies: Mohammed VI, Elhadji, Oumar, Bah, Kadidia, Fatouma, Hawa, Adama, and Oumou, and marked the occasion with a post to their 57,000 followers.
“Unforgettable memories,” they wrote. “A miracle of life, incredible strength, immense love. We are filled with gratitude for how far we have come and for all the support we have received since the very beginning.”
The throwback carousel includes a collage of hospital moments, from Halima and Abdelkader holding one of their babies in scrubs, to a photo of all nine babies in their little hatches right after birth. There’s even a snapshot of a heavily pregnant Halima in bed, scrolling through her phone in those final days before the historic delivery.
The couple even shared a picture of their Guinness World Records certificate, for the most children delivered at a single birth to survive, because how could they not?
Back in 2021, Halima was originally told she was carrying seven babies. It wasn’t until the Malian government flew her and her husband to a specialist clinic in Morocco that two more babies were discovered. On May 4, 2021, the nonuplets were born prematurely at just 30 weeks, weighing between 0.5 to 1 kg (1.1 to 2.2 lb). Their arrival made history as the first known set of nonuplets to survive birth.
Now four years old, the children are the only known case of nonuplets to survive birth. They join their older sister Arby, now 6, in a family that continues to draw admiration for their resilience and journey.
