Anju Kushwaha, 28, from the Satna district of central Madhya Pradesh province, went into labour at just 12 weeks on Sunday evening and was rushed to hospital with her husband Sanjay.However during the 77mile (125k) journey the expectant mother gave birth to nine children, all of them stillborn, before arriving at the hospital.Dr SK Pathak, assistant superintendent of Sanjay Ghandi Memorial hospital, told Times of India: 'She delivered nine of them midway. Obstetric and NICU team at our hospital helped her to deliver the 10th one in the operation theatre - all were born dead at almost 12 weeks.'Mrs Kushwaha was experiencing an extreme form of a condition known as multifoetal pregnancy, which usually produces twins.Multifoetal pregnancy occurs either when a single sperm and single egg combine, but then split into two embryos, forming identical twins who will share identical DNA.Another possibility is that two sperm will fertilise two eggs, resulting in non-identical, or fraternal twins, who are often different in appearance and gender.Various combinations of this process can very occasionally produce triplets, all, some or none of which might be identical. High order multiples - more than three babies in the same womb - are exceptionally rare and occur almost exclusively while the woman is undergoing fertility treatment. This is because several embryos are often implanted into her womb to increase the chances of conception, and the fact that high hormone levels, used in most fertility treatments, also increase the risk. Multifetal pregnancy reduction is where some of the unborn children are terminated in order to increase the chance of some of the foetuses surviving, and to reduce risk to the mother.Each addition foetus a woman is carrying increases the risk of premature birth, with around half of all children born this early dying from respiratory stress syndrome, caused by undeveloped lungs. If the pregnancy is confirmed it will mark the most babies in a womb in India, and the second highest in the world.In 1971 a doctor in Rome claimed to have delivered 15 children at one time, though all of them were also dead.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az