Ghazala Khamis, 27, delivered three girls and four boys at an Alexandria hospital after doctors performed a Caesarean section six weeks before her due date.

She has three other daughters, aged between five and 10.

Khamis remained in hospital on Monday, recovering from a blood transfusion she received during the delivery.

A family doctor said she and the newborns were in stable condition.

Lying on a rusted metal bed and surrounded by family and friends, Khamis said her family lived in a mud house in a village without a hospital in Beheira province.

"I need someone to help me with housing, and food for the children.

We can't cope with this by ourselves," she said.

Khamis's husband, Faraj Muhammed Ali, said he is a sharecropper who earns about 15 Egyptian pounds on the days he finds work.

"We already have three girls.

She wanted a boy.

I told her because of our standard of life, three are enough.

We were barely coping with three children," he said.

Septuplet births are extremely rare, but the rise in the use of fertility drugs has increased the chances of multiple births.

Abdel Rahim Mousa, a doctor who prescribed Khamis fertility drugs two months before she became pregnant, said no one imagined she would give birth to septuplets.

"We didn't expect it.

She took the right dosage.

It's true drugs can cause twins, but not this many children,' he said.

"She might be able to suckle twins, but not this many."

Ghazala's sister, Hanan Khamis, said the family had not seen contributions despite the media attention the newborns have received.

"There were offers from people as far away as Kuwait, and from the Health Ministry, but nothing yet," she said.

Nampa-Reuters

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