CHENNAI: A 25-year-old woman who hails from the Kancheepuram district, from a labourer’s family, delivered triplets by elective caesarean section at the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Egmore. Four days after the birth, the woman’s family is now looking for financial help to raise them.
Vimala, wife of Nithyanandam, a labourer from Karumbur near Singaperumalkoil, delivered triplets — all girls — on Thursday morning. Doctors said she was admitted in the hospital after 30 weeks into pregnancy and had a elective C section after 35 weeks.
Usually triplets are born to women, who have undergone IVF treatment or ovulation induction. But the doctor said Vimala, who already has a two-year-old girl, had a natural conception. While two babies weighed about 1.8 kgs and 1.9 kgs, the third baby that weighed 1.5 kgs has been kept in the incubator. “The children were initially kept under observation in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU),” a doctor said.
Though happy about the birth of the children, Vimala’s mother Amudha, was worried about raising the babies. “Her husband works as a daily wager. We don’t know how we will raise the children. We definitely need some financial help,” Amudha said sitting next to Vimala and two of the babies in the hospital.
Amudha also said that they knew her daughter was carrying triplets only when she entered her fifth month of pregnancy. “We consulted a doctor in Chengelpet, who said it was only one baby after taking the scan. At her fifth month, we took another scan in Tambaram. That’s when we came to know it was triplets. But doctors told us we cannot do anything but go ahead,” she said.
For doctors at IOG, triplets born in their hospital is becoming commonplace. “Years back, triplets for a woman were quite unusual. Now, we see triplets every 300 deliveries and twins every 150 deliveries,” a doctor said. “Also earlier, we get to know about the number of babies only during delivery. Now, with scans, we are more prepared, he added.