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Editor’s note: While the story of the birth of the decuplets was carried widely in South Africa and by international media such as the NY Post, it has yet to be verified by the family or the publication that first ran the story. Director General of Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) took to Twitter last night with claims that the government had spent the “better part of the day tracing the story”, but they have not been able to prove that one woman had given birth of 10 babies in South Africa.
A 37-year old Johannesburg mom has broken the Guinness World Record for giving birth to 10 babies, beating the previous record-holder, a Malian woman who gave birth to 9 babies last month.
Gosiame Thamara Sithole gave birth to her decuplets in Pretoria last night as reported by Pretoria News.
Her husband Teboho Tsotetsi said his wife delivered seven boys and three girls via Caesarean section and the 10 babies were quite a surprise because they were only prepared for eight.
The couple from Tembisa Township in Ekurhuleni conceived the decuplets naturally and Sithole was not on fertility treatment.
In addition to their 10 new bundles, the couple have 6-year old twins.
The babies born at 29 weeks into Sithole’s pregnancy will spend the next few months in hospital, in an incubator for observation being premature.
Sithole was quoted as saying, “I am shocked by my pregnancy. It was tough at the beginning. I was sick. It was hard for me. It’s still tough but I am used to it now. I don’t feel the pain anymore, but it’s still a bit tough. I just pray for God to help me deliver all my children in a healthy condition, and for me and my children to come out alive. I would be pleased about it,” Sithole said.
Sithole had sleepless nights worrying about how her unborn children.
According to Professor Dini Mawela, the deputy head of the school of medicine at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, this was an exceptionally rare case because decuplets are usually conceived through fertility treatments.
“It’s quite a unique situation. I don’t know how often it happens. It’s extremely high risk (pregnancy). It’s a highly complex and high-risk situation. The danger is that, because there is not enough space in the womb for the children, the tendency is that they will be small. What would happen is that they would take them out pre-term because there is a risk if they keep them longer in there. The babies will come out small, chances of survival compromised. But all this depends on how long she carried them for.”
Also read: Proud dad! Itumeleng Khune welcomes baby number 2
