T&T to get its first sextuplets First-time mom expected to give birth at Mt Hope complex

History will be created within a month when a 28-year-old woman is expected to give birth to sextuplets. Members of the media were allowed to speak to the expectant first-time mother for a few minutes at the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex, Mt Hope, yesterday. Another mother who is expecting quadruplets had her first clinical appointment yesterday at the same hospital. She is expected to be admitted at a later date.

Appearing shy at first, the soon-to-be mother of six whose name was not released by hospital administrators said she was anxious but overjoyed about the prospect. With pillows placed to support her back and on her growing abdomen, the woman smiled and said: “I am doing pretty well considering the amount of babies I am carrying.” Some of the names were already chosen but final decisions were yet to be made for the others.

With excitement increasing at her home in central Trinidad, the woman said family members were already putting measures in place when the babies arrived home. Asked whether she would have more children after the sextuplets she said: “You never know.” Prior to leading the media to the maternity ward, Dr Shahnaz Mohammed, chairman of the North Central Regional Health Authority assured that staff has been already placed on stand-by if the woman went into premature labour.

He added: “What we are promoting is teamwork and it helps to foster more holistic relationships among staff members. “We have put policies in place, especially with complicated conditions. It is the senior people who come out not just the consultant and the head nurse. “All of us take part, even head of engineering and transport, to be able to make sure all of the services are rendered properly.” Mohammed said the woman tried unsuccessfully to conceive but after using the fertility drug Clomid she become pregnant.

Professor Bharat Bassaw of the hospital’s obstetrics and gynaecology unit said the sex of the babies were not yet determined. However, he said, not only was it the first time in the country such a delivery would be performed but also in the entire Caribbean. “This is an uncommon condition because when this happens most of these pregnancies would end long before, due to miscarriages. Currently we are just under 27 weeks of gestation. In this country viability by law is considered 28 weeks,” he added. 

Bassaw said the patient was “doing fine and was comfortable” and the pregnancy was also coming along well. “In this field there is nothing like 100 per cent but I think at this point we can say we are optimistic in terms of both mother and the foetal outcome.”