A woman claims she has given birth to 10 babies all at once, it has been reported.
The 37-year-old from South Africa said she gave birth to decuplets at a hospital in the city of Pretoria on June.
Gosiame Thamara Sithole is believed to have given birth to the seven boys and three girls, who were conceived naturally, through C-section and at 29 weeks.
If true, she has now broken the record set by Halima Cisse of Mali, who gave birth to nine babies at a hospital in Morocco in May.
The feat has not been confirmed by doctors or the Guinness World Records.
Doctors had initially told her she was expecting six children before later scans incorrectly revised the figure up to eight.
(Image: Newsflash)
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The mother, who originally hails from the township of Thembisa in the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, is a retail store manager who already has two twins aged six.
Earlier in the year she had revealed her pregnancy was initially tough and she had been sick and experienced leg pain and heartburn.
She had also expressed worry that her unborn children would not survive the high-risk pregnancy.
However, all were born alive and will spend the next few months in incubators before she and her husband, Teboho Tsotetsi can take them home.
Teboho described himself as “happy” and “emotional” following the birth.
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Gosiame beat the record from Halima Cisse, 25, from Mali, who gave birth to nine children last month.
She had been thought to be carrying septuplets all the way through her pregnancy – but doctors were shocked to find two more children when they performed a C-section.
All babies – five girls and four boys, were at the time of birth said to be “doing well”.
Ms Cisse, who had already had a child with her husband Adjudant Kader Arby, was flown to Morocco in March for specialist care after the Malian government intervened in her rare case.
Mr Arby told the BBC at the time he didn’t fear bringing up so many babies at once.
“God gave us these children. He is the one to decide what will happen to them.
“I’m not worried about that. When the almighty does something, he knows why.”
The family said they were grateful for the incredible support, which also saw the Malian authorities calling to “express their joy”.
“I thank them… Even the president called me,” Mr Arby said.
