Mom soon hopes to hold and name her recently born septuplets.

Ghazala Khamis was still hospitalized after giving birth a day earlier to four boys and three girls. She said she is "very anxious to see them" and to breast-feed at least some of them.

In the hopes of conceiving a son, Khamis took fertility drugs as she is already 0the mother of three girls. Sons are preferred to daughters in the province of Beheira, located north of the Nile River. Her husband and other relatives are currently brainstorming names.

The newborns, who weigh between 2.3 and 4 pounds, are being kept in incubators but appear to be healthy, said Dr. Emad Darwish, who delivered the babies Saturday at El-Shatbi Hospital.

He said three remain at El-Shatbi while the other four have been sent to two other hospitals in Alexandria "because we do not have enough incubators."

Khamis was also in good condition, he said, after receiving a blood transfusion because of bleeding during a Caesarean section.

Darwish said he decided to perform a Caesarean at the end of the woman's eighth month of pregnancy due to pressure on her kidneys.

He said Egypt's health minister has promised to give the babies free milk and diapers for two years, but the family is still worried about the long-term financial burden of feeding and taking care of a total of ten children.

"What they need most is a dwelling to live in. I hope the government will give them an apartment," Khamis said.