Special Delivery at Dreamland’s Baby Unit
Rose is a brand-new mother to triplets! Rose is a teenager who fell pregnant with triplets while finishing school. She is an orphan, who had been asked to leave the family and sadly, she has little support at home.
Rose had been staying at her boyfriend’s home, where she attended antenatal clinics in a hospital that was nearer to the home. She remembers during one of the hospital visits, one of the nurses asked her if her family has any history of multiple births, but she was not informed that she was pregnant with multiples!
One morning, Rose started experiencing abdominal pains, she rushed to the hospital and she was informed she was experiencing pre-term labour. The clinic did not have an ultrasound machine and so she was referred to
Dreamland Mission Hospital, as the clinic was aware that DMH would help without charging her for the service. It was here she found she was expecting triplets who were in distress and within an hour, she had an emergency C-Section which was successful and the babies were transferred to the Newborn Unit due to pre-term birth and low birth weight.
“When I was told the news of having triplets, I didn’t know how to react to it. It was good but scary news to me. How will I manage taking care of three babies at once? Their father is a casual labourer at a flower farm in Naivasha, with very little wages, but DMH were so kind and looked after me and my babies,” Rose said.
Triplet 1 weighed 1,505gm, Triplet 2 weighed 2,120gm and Triplet 3 weighed 1,660gm at birth. All three triplets were treated with oxygen therapy, using the oxygen concentrators bought as part of the project, they all had phototherapy treatment due to jaundice and had a fast array of IV drugs and a complex feeding programme.
“What I am happy about here in the unit is the reassurance of the doctors and the nurse that everything would be fine and they are providing us with enough comfort,” Rose told me.
Rose’s triplets, having been born prematurely, had to stay in the Newborn Unit under close care and monitoring of respiration, blood pressure, vital signs, ensuring warmth and regulating body temperature of the babies as well assisting the mother, especially in ensuring an adequate milk supply, which is crucial for the three babies. The babies stayed on the unit, progressing from incubators to a mix of kangaroo care.
“The staff here update me on how the babies are doing and their conditions, giving me peace of mind,” Rose said.
After nearly 8 weeks of care, the babies had put on sufficient weight to be discharged with monitoring. DMH and the Social Work Team are doing their best to support Rose and ensure that she has enough food to sustain her babies.
