Egyptian women delivers septuplets!

[Meriem_DZ 37]

CNN.com article

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) -- A 27-year-old Egyptian woman gave birth to septuplets early Saturday in the coastal city of Alexandria, family members and the hospital director said.

Nurses attend to the septuplets at a the El-Shatbi Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt.

Ghazala Khamis was in good condition after having a blood transfusion during her Caesarean section due to bleeding, said Emad Darwish, director of the El-Shatbi Hospital where she gave birth.

The newborns, four boys and three girls, weigh between 3.2 pounds and 6.17 pounds and are in stable condition, Darwish said. They have been placed in incubators in four different hospitals that have special premature baby units, he said.

"This is a very rare pregnancy -- something I have never witnessed over my past 33 years in this profession," Darwish told The Associated Press by phone from the hospital.

Darwish decided to carry out the Caesarean section at the end of Khamis' eighth month of pregnancy due to the pressure on her kidneys. He said Khamis, who already has three daughters, took fertility drugs in an effort to have a son.

Khamis, the wife of a farmer in the northern Egyptian province of Beheira, was admitted to the hospital two months earlier, Darwish said.

"From the initial checkup, I say that none of the babies have any sort of deformities or incomplete organs," Darwish said.

The woman's brother, Khamis Khamis, said even though his sister was trying to conceive more children so she could have a son, the family was astonished when they found out she would give birth to multiple babies.

"We thought about an abortion, but then we felt it's religiously forbidden. So we said 'Let God's will prevail,"' he told the AP by phone.

Egypt's health minister announced that the seven babies will receive free milk and diapers for two years, the brother added.

Edited August 16, 2008 by Meriem_setif

[Hanna&Mohamed 0]

That is wonderful news! I pray the babies will be fine!!

I want a daughter so much I told mohamed but i told him I dont know if I would try that ! That would be me also having so many babies!!

[Nothing1234 2]

Wow! Amazing. Not only the 7 babies but Egypt providing free milk and diapers! LOL.

[Muh and me 18]

Double WOWWWW!!!!!! All them babies and as big as they are!!!!! I could not imagine carrying that many babies and them weighing as much as they did!!!!!

[HLM 1]

Wow! Amazing. Not only the 7 babies but Egypt providing free milk and diapers! LOL.

hehehe i know!! was thinking the same thing!

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

7 babies is alot at one time... I cant even begin to imagine how she was feeling or walking around for months & months...

remember that saying... be careful what you ask for...

[Meriem_DZ 37]

Septuplets' mother has only seen them on TV

CNN.com article

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) -- A day after giving birth to septuplets, a 27-year-old Egyptian woman said Sunday she's only seen her babies on television and hopes to hold them and name them soon.

Nurses attend to the septuplets at a the El-Shatbi Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt.

Ghazala Khamis was still hospitalized after giving birth a day earlier to four boys and three girls. She said she is "very anxious to see them" and to breast-feed at least some of them.

"I saw them on TV. They are very cute," she told The Associated Press from her hospital bed in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria.

"I am just waiting to hold them in my arms and breast-feed them," she said in a weak voice. "I don't know if I can do it to all, but I will try."

Her husband and other relatives are brainstorming names, said Khamis, who took fertility drugs to conceive in an effort to produce a son. She is already the mother of three girls, ages 7 to 11.

The family lives in Beheira, a northern province on the fertile Nile River delta where, like much of rural Egypt, sons are preferred to daughters.

The newborns, who weigh between 2.3 and 4 pounds, are being kept in incubators but appear to be healthy, said Dr. Emad Darwish, who delivered the babies Saturday at El-Shatbi Hospital.

He said three remain at El-Shatbi while the other four have been sent to two other hospitals in Alexandria "because we do not have enough incubators."

Khamis was also in a good condition, he said, after receiving a blood transfusion because of bleeding during a Caesarean section.

Darwish said he decided to perform a Caesarean at the end of the woman's eighth month of pregnancy due to pressure on her kidneys.

The babies' father is a farm worker who earns about $4 a day when he is employed, which is usually only a day or two each week, said Khamis' brother, whose name is Khamis Khamis.

He said Egypt's health minister had promised to give the babies free milk and diapers for two years, but the family was still worried about the long-term financial burden of feeding and taking care of 10 children.

"What they need most is a dwelling to live in. I hope the government will give them an apartment," Khamis said.

"With the help of Allah, they will make it, but I think it will be difficult," he said.

[Henia 11]

Women having multiples seems to be so common these days! HEre in Algeria one woman gave birth to 6! Waw!

Congrats to them!

[Sassy1natl 0]

Omygosh. Can you imagine trying to brestfeed all seven? Thank goodness Egypt is helping.