A pregnant woman is about to give birth to a record-breaking 12 babies, it was claimed.
The teacher, who is in her 30s, turned to fertility treatment in a bid to conceive after suffering two miscarriages.
She is expecting six boys and six girls and is due to give birth in hospital within days, according to reports.
If the babies are delivered successfully, the Tunisian woman would become the first ever mother of duodecaplets and beat the record of eight children in one birth.
The expectant mother, who has not been named, is said to have told hospital staff in the central town of Gafsa: 'All I want to is hug my babies and show them all my love. This is a miracle.' The Arab language teacher's husband, named only as Marwan, said the number of babies was a complete surprise.
He said: 'In the beginning, we thought that my wife would give birth to twins but more foetuses were discovered. Our joy increased with the growing number.'
Marwan said doctors had told his wife she would be able to give birth naturally but experts said this would be impossible.
It is not known how many weeks she is pregnant but British doctors fear she could go into labour as early as 20 weeks, which would mean the babies would be unlikely to survive.
Dr Mark Hamilton, of the British Fertility Society, said: 'Twelve babies seems extraordinary. The woman could have been receiving ovulation induction treatment, which stimulates egg production. You don't have the same control as with IVF.'
In Britain, women under the age of 40 may have two embryos implanted in IVF and three embryos are allowed for women over the age of 40.
However, to prevent multiple births and complications, there has been a movement towards the use of a single embryo.
Earlier this year Nadya Suleman successfully had octuplets in Los Angeles, California, earning herself the nickname 'Octomom'.
Source
It must be a bit cramped in there!