A quadruplets mother’s journey to success
While impending motherhood is a joy for most women, being pregnant is hard enough. The trouble is multiplied by two if it’s twins, by three if it’s triplets and so on. However, with trust of inner wisdom, self-determination and the maternal psyche, women successfully manage to carry the pregnancy to at least 37-38 weeks gestation. Carrying more than one pregnancy is a big challenge for the woman’s body. There is excessive demand and sometimes the body gives up even before 37 weeks gestation period, and the babies are born prematurely. In the course of my work as a midwife, I have seen quite a few women carry twins and more to term. One such woman I encountered carried not two or three but four babies to term.
Mrs Chuan Vuong had attempted to carry a pregnancy three times previously with no luck. She suffered from cervical incompetence and would lose her pregnancies at three months. She was willing to do anything to have and hold a baby in her hands. Her problem got worse and she was unable to conceive. At that point, she was referred to a specialist infertility gynecologist who carried out several tests and recommended In Vitro fertilisation (IVF). The procedure was successful and she conceived quadruplets. She was advised to remain on bed rest and due to the cervical incompetence she had a shirodkar (a surgical procedure in which a suture is used to close a pregnant woman’s cervix-which has failed to retain previous pregnancies) stitch inserted on her cervix in order to hold the pregnancy in place.
The journey to 37 weeks gestation was not an easy one. As I talked and cared for her during her admission in hospital, I discovered that she had suffered threatened abortion at two-and-a-half- months of the pregnancy. She had been admitted several times due to high blood pressure, high levels of anxiety and excessive feet oedema. She even had to quit her job as a banker just to save the precious pregnancy. She was willing to do anything to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother and nurture her own flesh and blood. She had travelled far and wide in search of a baby. Places like South Africa, Canada and United States were very familiar to her. She had spent a fortune but refused to give up.
She was admitted to the maternity ward at 35 weeks gestation with lower abdominal pressure and fatigue due to the excessive weight which you would expect in a quadruple pregnancy. She was to remain in the ward on bed rest until 37 weeks. However, her mental state was positive and willing to co-operate up to the end. While in the ward, she was closely monitored for any signs of labour, which would call for urgent delivery, any signs of infection as well as any signs of unstable blood pressure. The foetal heart rates were also monitored closely though with minimal abdomen handling to avoid triggering premature labour. She was also given steroids to mature the babies’ lungs faster in case of early delivery. She successfully pulled through to 37 weeks gestation. She had all along been prepared for delivery by caesarean section. On the D-day, she was wheeled to the operating theatre where she had her quadruplets delivered- two bouncing baby boys and two lovely girls. They were handled well by the doctors who were present for the birth and were put under incubator care for warmth and observation. They weighed between 2.5- 3.0kg.
Forty eight hours after the birth, one of the girls developed respiratory distress and had to be taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for ventilation support and close monitoring. Her lungs were weak and despite all the efforts by the doctors and the team, she didn’t pull through. This was very devastating for the parents who had to go through counseling. They finally accepted the death of their daughter and were happy that the other three babies were well. Mrs Vuong was happy that her dream finally came true and was happy to hold and cherish her bundles of joy. She encourages other women to hang to their dreams and heed medical advice.
END: PG 36 /21