Ask any parent and some will tell you that having one child can already be quite a handful.

Imagine having ten - all at one go.

She was expecting six

The happy couple.
A woman in South Africa has, in what would definitely be a new world record, given birth to ten babies in a single birth.

According to a report by by Pretoria News, which was quoted by BBC, 37-year-old Gosiame Thamara Sithole delivered the decuplets (yup, that's what they call ten babies) consisting of seven boys and three girls on 7 June.

A relative told the news portal that Sithole delivered five of the children via vaginal birth, and five through cesarean.

We are pretty sure Sithole, a retail store manager, and her husband, who is unemployed, were absolutely thrilled; just look at his face:

The face of a happy father.
Sithole told Pretoria News that initial scans showed that she was carrying six foetuses but additional scans detected octuplets (eight babies, in case you're wondering).

She added that the two babies could not be detected at first "because they were inside the wrong tube".

Sithole said the pregnancy was "tough" on her at first because she was worried about carrying so many children at once.

"How would they fit in the womb? Would they survive? What if they came out conjoined at the head, in the stomachs or hands? Like, what would happen?

"I asked myself all these questions until the doctor assured me that my womb was starting to expand inside," she was quoted as saying, adding that she conceived naturally without the help of any fertility treatment.

However, despite that, she's "over the moon" and she can't wait to see her children.

Fun fact: she already has a pair of twins who are six years old, so she now officially has a football team plus a subsitute.

Government is investigating

All has been quiet at Sithole's home.
When news of Sithole's extraordinary childbirth started spreading, the South African government are still trying to verify the claim, the Associated Press reported.

The babies have yet to make a public appearance or been captured on a camera, although one South African official, as well as relatives and neighbours, have confirmed the births.

The babies were also reportedly born prematurely.

The Department of Social Development in South Africa's Gauteng province also confirmed that they've managed to track down Sithole, and the Department's spokeswoman Feziwe Ndwayana told the news wire that they would make an announcement after meeting with the family.

However, another local government department said that it had no record of the babies' births in any of the province's hospitals, so Sithole's claim is still a mystery at the moment.

Potential world record

If Sithole did indeed give birth to ten babies, it would be the world's first recorded case of decuplets and she could find her name in the Guinness World Records.

Halima Cisse is the current record holder.
The current record holder for the most children in a single birth belongs to 25-year-old Halima Cisse from Mali, who gave birth to nine babies in Morocco.

For the time being, Guinness World Records is still investigating Sithole’s case.