South Triplets go home

AN attorney-at-law traded in her briefcase for a bundle of diapers instead, becoming the latest woman in this country to give birth to a set of triplets. Karen Fournillier of Pointe-a-Pierre gave birth 24 days ago to two boys and a girl at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). Yesterday, she was discharged from the post-natal ward after her children were given a clean bill of health by her doctors. Born a month pre-mature, the tiny babies — Zia and her two brothers Zobari and Zakari — needed special neo-natal care at the hospital’s nursery.

But the new mother, surrounded by her three bundles of joy, was ecstatic when visited by reporters. “I am not nervous about having to take care of my three babies alone. In the last three weeks I learnt how to take care of them,” she added. But the road to the delivery was not an easy one since Fournillier had spent two and a half months in hospital prior to the delivery. Thirty-two weeks into her pregnancy she developed high blood pressure and the doctors realised that one baby was smaller than the other two, revealed the Head of Gynecology and Obstetrics at SFGH, Dr Jehan Ali. Dr Ali said the babies were delivered via Caesarian — two weighing 1.6 kgs and the other 1.1 kgs — on Friday June 18.  Ali said the babies were kept at the hospital although the hospital did not have proper neo-natal facilities.

He said nine months ago a level two obstetric theatre was commissioned but the monitors were inferior and they stopped working. He said when the monitors were functional the pre-natal mortality rate dropped from 45.3  per thousand to 33 per thousand. He said last year’s mortality rate had risen to 42 per thousand after the monitors malfunctioned. Dr Ali said although the hospital needed proper neo-natal facilities “the outcome in this case was good and this was a good example of quality care at the SFGH.” He added that the babies would continue to be monitored by doctors. Fournillier and the baby’s father, Neil Romany, 35, an evaluation officer, praised the doctors and hospital staff for their excellent care. Admitting she had reservations about coming to the hospital, she nonetheless gushed, “I got excellent treatment here... time to take my little ones home.”