Surviving triplets sent home... parents relieved

This past weekend was one of the most joyous weekends Ravi Hoosein and his 17-year-old wife, Aarika, had spent since the teenage woman gave birth to triplets on February 26 this year. After six weeks of uncertainty and the death of one baby — the only male in the set, Alex — the couple was able to take their remaining two girls home with them.

Up to last Thursday afternoon, doctors at the San Fernando General hospital had not told the couple when they would have been able to take their children to their home at St John’s Road, Claxton Bay. However, when the parents turned up at the hospital last Friday morning, they were greeted with the news that they had been hoping for over several weeks. According to Aarika, she was simply overwhelmed by the thought of finally being able to have her children at her own home.

The relieved mother described the entire time since the triplets’ birth as a “tough and hectic” experience, not knowing whether her two girls would have survived or died like their brother. For the entire six weeks, Aarika told Newsday, she was constantly worried about her children’s health and she prayed throughout for their well-being. The mother said every time she had to leave the babies to return home, she felt sad and even wondered silently whether she could have “stolen them”.

Husband Ravi indicated that his wife was “always very sad, especially after Alex died”. He said his wife cried constantly every time someone mentioned Alex’s name and that even now she still cries sometimes. He said while Aarika is feeding the girls she sometimes goes very quiet and he knows it’s because she’s thinking about Alex. However, now that the girls, Arianna and Ariel, are at home, Ravi stated, his wife is concentrating on talking of them and she appears a lot better. He said she now spends all her time with them, never allowing them to be out of her sight for very long.

Ravi told Newsday that he too now feels very relaxed, admitting that before they came home he was always tense and spent a lot of time wondering how they were doing. Proud of his babies, Ravi said despite the fact that his daughters were born all of six weeks ago, he wasn’t able to hold them until they arrived at the family’s home on Friday. He said he felt “a joy inside” and he intended to spend a lot of time with the girls. “It is so amazing. They are so cute, I just feel to hold and hug them all the time,” he said happily.