A woman has successfully given birth to septuplets – only the second set ever to have all survived.
Ghazala Khamis, 27, had taken fertility drugs in the hope of having a son. Instead the Egyptian farmer’s wife, who already has three girls, gave birth to four boys and three more girls.
The newborns, who weigh between 3lbs and 6lbs, are said to be doing well and are being cared for in incubators.
Doctors decided to carry out a Caesarean section at the end of Mrs Khamis’s eighth month of pregnancy because of the pressure on her kidneys.
Her brother Khamis Khamis said the family, from Beheira, was astonished when they learnt about the multiple pregnancy.
‘We thought about an abortion but then we felt it’s haram ( religiously forbidden) so we said let God’s will prevail,’ he added.