MOROCCO — As they celebrate their first birthday, father of the world’s only nonuplets — nine babies born at the same time — say they are in “perfect health”.

According to a BBC article, the nonuplets who were born on May 4, 2021 to mother, Halima Cissé, 26, and father Abdelkader Arby, are “all crawling now.”

“Some are sitting up and can even walk if they hold on to something,” Arby, an officer in the Malian army said.

All nine children are still in the care of the clinic in Morocco where they were born.

“It’s not easy but it’s great. Even if it’s tiring at times, when you look at all the babies in perfect health, [in a line] from right to left we’re relieved. We forget everything,” Arby told BBC Afrique, detailing how the children would spend their first birthday.

“They will just have a small birthday celebration with the nurses and a few people from their apartment building. Nothing is better than the first year. We will remember this great moment we are going to experience.”

According to BBC, the babies broke the Guinness World Record for the most children delivered in a single birth to survive.

The babies, five girls and four boys, were born at 30 weeks according to Mali’s health minister, Fanta Siby. They weighed between 500g and 1kg (1.1lb and 2.2lb), Professor Youssef Alaoui, medical director of the Ain Borja clinic told the AFP news agency at the time of birth.

They were delivered by Caesarean section.

Their boys are called Mohammed VI, Oumar, Elhadji, Bah, while the girls are named Kadidia, Fatouma, Hawa, Adama and Oumou.

Multiple births are risky and mothers with more than four foetuses at a time are advised to terminate some in countries where abortion is legal.