Hospital: Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets

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.

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.

Re: Hospital: Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets

I hope they give her a show, because i'm SOOO over Kate. She's sucks, she's not a fun mom, and she's nasty. Also, outings in Egypt would be so much more interesting to watch than those in central PA (no offense to anyone who lives in central PA, of course)

Re: Hospital: Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets

I feel that this woman completely misused fertility medications just so that she can have a male child. What kind of doctor would prescribe these medications for that reason alone? She obviously doesn't suffer from IF if she already had 3 other children. I feel like she took advantage of modern medicine and it makes me

Does anyone else agree?

Re: Hospital: Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets

I would agree. But if the doctor was driven by religious beliefs in America, he may not do well as a physician. We don't know what the qualifications and standards are in other countries. My doctor is Modern Orthodox and despite his own religious views and moral standards, his professional obligations supercede his personal ones. Many religious doctors (of all religions) rely upon dispensations to perform various procedures in all branches of medicine.