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Pretoria. – A Gauteng woman has given birth to 10 babies, breaking the Guinness World Record held by Malian Halima Cissé who gave birth to nine children in Morocco last month.

Gosiame Thamara Sithole, 37, gave birth to her decuplets – two more than doctors had earlier detected during the medical scans – at a hospital in Pretoria on Monday night, said her husband Teboho Tsotetsi.

He said Sithole, who hails from Tembisa Township in Ekurhuleni, delivered her seven boys and three girls by Caesarean section.

Sithole, who has six-year-old twins, previously said that her pregnancy was natural as she was not on fertility treatment. Speaking in an interview on Monday night, Tsotetsi said Sithole gave birth to their bundles of joy 29 weeks into her pregnancy.

“It’s seven boys and three girls. She was seven months and seven days pregnant. I am happy. I am emotional. I can’t talk much. Let’s talk again in the morning please,” Tsotetsi said. In an interview at their family home in Tembisa last month and the publication of which was delayed at the request of the couple for safety and cultural reasons, Sithole said she was shocked and fascinated by the pregnancy.

She had been in a state of disbelief when the doctors told her earlier this year that she was expecting six children (sextuplets) before further scans showed that it was in fact octuplets. Two others could not be detected initially because they were inside the wrong tube, Sithole said.

The retail store manager said she was initially dubious when the doctors told her she was pregnant with octuplets.

“I didn’t believe it. I doubted it. I was convinced that if it was more, it would be twins or triplets, not more than that. When the doctor told me, I took time to believe it. Even when I saw the scans I didn’t believe it. But, as time went by, I realised it was indeed true. I battled to sleep at night though.”

Sithole had sleepless nights worrying about her unborn children.

“How would they fit in the womb? Would they survive? What if they came out conjoined at the head, in the stomachs or hands? Like, what would happen? I asked myself all these questions until the doctor assured me that my womb was starting to expand inside. God made a miracle and my children stayed in the womb without any complications.”

Sithole said that even if it wasn’t an easy journey, she was over the moon and is looking forward to her children. – Pretoria News