|
|
 |
  |
| Sunday, 24 October 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Multiple blessings by Lakmal Welabada They are tiny. Weighing less than 2 kgs each, they seem too fragile and almost lost in their white nappies. Fists in their mouths, they eagerly search for their mother's warmth oblivious to the fact that they are the cynosure of all eyes.
"I may get police quarters either in Maradana or Thimbirigasyaya," says the proud, albeit somewhat worried father. Piyatissa's concern is that of any new father, but multiplied five times. He worries about how he'd be able to care for them in his policeman's salary. but the concern doesn't foreshadow the joy of the birth of his 'cute bundle' of five.
Piyatissa who has been in the Presidential Security Division for the past ten years is from Mahawa, Kurunegala. He and his wife Chamila Kumari are living in Chamila's house at Pilimatalawa. But the doctors have asked the family to remain in Colombo for medical and observation purposes, and hence the search for accommodation. The couple got married on August 8, 1999 and planned to have a baby after their first anniversary. But when his wife showed no signs of becoming pregnant, Piyatissa took his wife to a VOG. They also tried indigenous medication and made religious vows. Though the matter bothered the two from time to time, they always calmed each other with positive thinking; We will have a child soon. After several Bodhi Poojas, vows made at the sacred Tooth Relic in Dalada Maligawa, Shri Maha Bodhiya at Anuradhapura and many other places, the couple was sent to Dr. Kapila Gunewardhana, VOG at the Peradeniya Hospital on whom they had a lot of faith on. After a few months, Chamila felt some changes in her body. And finally the good news arrived. "I am pregnant," she was overjoyed. Piyatissa broke the happy news to his colleagues. The blessings had worked for them, but they didn't know it would be a fivefold blessing. When Chamila was three months pregnant, she underwent a scan which showed not one, but four foetuses. Though Piyatissa, being the sole bread-winner for his family was a bit shaken by the news, he accepted his blessings enthusiastically. He did his best to feed Chamila with nutritious food and extra vitamins, and tried to keep her happy all the time. He was quite aware of the enormous responsibility he had to shoulder alone, once the babies were born. But he never let Chamila bother about the difficulties. Chamila was admitted to the Peradeniya Hospital two months ago. As the hospital was not equipped with facilities for a multiple delivery, she was transferred to Sri Jayawardhanapura Hospital. "We were not in a position to pay the ultimate huge bills there. So we asked for a transfer to the Castle Street Maternity Hospital. Dr. Ranjith Almeda was the VOG who attended to my wife's delivery at the Castle Street," says Piyatissa. Like other fathers-to-be, Piyatissa also waited at the hospital entrance for news of the birth of his children. He was expecting to welcome 'four'. But was told he had been blessed with one more. Piyatissa and Chamila who had been childless for five years since their marriage, are today blessed with quintuplets, marking a historic turning point for child birth in Sri Lanka. A few years ago, a mother at Welimada gave birth to quadruplets (four babies). The historic delivery of the quintuplets, three girls and two boys, took place at the Castle Street Maternity Hospital, Colombo from 10.36 a.m. to 10.41 a.m. on Wednesday, the October 6. The birth was through caesarian. The babies have been deemed healthy, but are under observation. And the proud parents are looking for suitable names for their offspring. "Mr. Arisen Ahubudu has given some names for my babies, but we have not yet chosen any, as at the moment we are in a real quandary looking for a place to stay in Colombo. The doctors have advised us to do so, as the babies and the mother should be under constant medical supervision," he says. The little ones who weigh between 1.16 kgs to 2 kgs though looking healthy and cute, need lot of care, more than normal babies. The proud parents have received the well-wishes of many with some making financial contributions for the well-being of the quintuplets. "Some think I have got lot of money for the babies. One asked whether I got 40 lakhs, and another asked me what I was hoping to do with the 90 lakhs I got as a donation. Some think I was given a vehicle as well. "We have got money as gifts, but not such a lot. However, it won't be easy with five children," says Piyatissa admitting that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had offered the quintuplets Rs. 5,000 per month from the Presidential Fund until they are five years. He is grateful to all who have helped them and would-be helping them, including OIC Jagath Chandrakumara of the Presidential Secretary Division. ***** It's five times the work by Kathleen Wilson Raising quintuplets is the toughest thing Patty Shier has ever done. She and her husband Scot manage with the help of relatives and 35 volunteers from the church and community. They hired a caretaker to help with the night shift for the first two months. They stayed home, shopped garage sales to stretch their budget, and arranged for their doctor to make house calls. And sleep became critical. "I still take a nap every day," Patty Shier said. "I really tried to rest when they were resting. If you get a good night's sleep anything is possible." The Los Angeles couple had been trying to have a baby for five and a half years when their three daughters and two sons were conceived with in vitro fertilization. The Shiers - he is a financial planner and she is a former representative for Hewlett-Packard - were stunned to learn they were having quintuplets. "We were just hoping for one," she said. "All we wanted was that one baby." But Sarah, Joshua, Rachel, Hannah and Jonathan were born in good condition on Jan. 23, 1996, at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. The smallest weighed 3 pounds, 5.2 ounces and the largest 4 pounds, 5 ounces. They're now in grade school, but the logistics of managing five children the same age are different from just looking after one. The couple has a 12-seat van for transporting the kids and their friends. They still rely on two volunteers to help bathe the quints. They're saving for five college educations, all to be paid at the same time. People who say they want quintuplets really don't understand what that means, Patty Shier said. "It can be overwhelming financially and emotionally. It's hard on your marriage because you have less time for each other. So much of the time is doing the logistical stuff. I have to remember to sit down and play with them. That's where other people can help so much by alleviating some of those routine things or helping with getting them all fed and changed and bathed." But there's an upside to having quints for the Shiers, who are both in their mid 40s now. "I just think, being an infertile couple, we never dreamed we'd ever be able to have a large family," she said. "Our lives are never dull. Every day is a new adventure." **** Fertility drugs increase multiple births It happens all over the world: Scotland, Brazil, Mozambique, and now Sri Lanka. After infertility treatments, a woman gives birth to quintuplets - or even more children. To date there have been 571 sets of quintuplets born around the world. Since 1980, high-order multiple births throughout the USA increased by 470 per cent. That year marks when in vitro fertilization first succeeded in England, according to the Centers for Disease Control National Center for Health Statistics. Medical experts saymore accessibility to high-tech reproductive technology is the reason for the increase in multiple births. Without infertility treatments, such births are extremely rare. "Natural quintuplets is like winning the lottery," they say. With infertility treatments, the woman is given drugs that deliberately cause hyperstimulation of the ovaries to overproduce eggs - in the hopes that at least one survives to become an embryo, Medical experts explain. However, in many instances, several of the eggs survive, resulting in multiple births. There are two categories in reproductive treatments - in vitro, which is done in a test tube or petrie dish, and in vivo, which is performed inside of the woman. Medical experts say most multiple births come from the latter situation - intrauterine treatments with hyperstimulation of the ovaries. These types of pregnancies are usually considered high-risk, even after delivery. **************** Quint facts Earliest Quint Births 999 C.E. - Unidentified - A reference was found in the Annales Ottenburani SA 999, in MGH Scriptores V: 4 or 5. First US set 1875 - Kanouse (Wisconsin, February 13 1875). The five boys all died shortly after birth. First set to survive 1934 - Annette Lillianna Marie, Yvonne Edouilda Marie (d June 23 2001), C,cile Marie Emilda, Marie Rein Alma (d 1970) and ?milie Marie Jeanne (d August 6 1954) Dionne (Ontario, Canada, May 28 1934). Mom had 8 other children (5 surviving). They were wards of the province and became a tourist attraction, housed in a hospital with a viewing area for the public. Visit this page for pictures and information. Identical Quintuplets 1786 - Waddington (likely in England, April 25 1786). Three were stillborn and 2 died shortly after birth. The bodies were preserved and were tested and found to be identical. 1934 - Dionne (Canada, 1934) Were the first and only identical set of quintuplets to survive. Lightest Quint Birth Weight (Total) 5lbs 15.6ozs - Stone (Georgia, August 5 1999). Longest Gestation 34 weeks, 3 days - Joshua, Zachary, Dillon, Dalton and Madison Wilson (from Pennsylvania, born in Arizona, July 23 2003). Heaviest Quint Birth Weight (Total, All surviving) 21lbs 1.2ozs - Joshua (5lbs 1.6ozs), Zachary (3lbs 9.4ozs), Dillon (4lbs 7ozs), Dalton (4lbs 3.2ozs) and Madison (3lbs 12ozs) Wilson (Arizona, July 23 2003). Oldest Living Set (All 5 survive) 61 years old - Diligenti (Argentina, July 15 1943) Maria Esther, Maria Fernanda, Maria Christina, Carlos Alberto, Franco (spontaneous). World's First IVF Quints World - Alan, Brett, Connor, Douglas and Edward Jacobssen (England, April 26 1985). All Male Quints (Living) 9 sets (possibly 12) All Female Quints (History) 20 sets - There have only been 20 proven sets of all female quintuplets, only 3 sets where all five survived, and one of those sets has only 2 survivors now (Dionne's) Quints Without Fertility Drugs 111 sets - Almost all occured before the 1960s. Since 1965, when the first set was born from fertility methods, only 19 sets have been conceived without them. ******** The Sunday Observer has also launched a fund-raising campaign for the quintuplets. It will be managed by a Trustee or Trustees as an on-going venture for the upkeep and future education of these record breaking new arrivals. All contributions could be credited to the Sunday Observer Quintuplets Fund at Bank of Ceylon - Lake House Branch, A/C No. 3894-5. Cheques and money orders can be sent to the Editor - Sunday Observer, Lake House, Colombo 10. Details of donors and donations will be published in the Sunday Observer regularly. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
Sri Lanka's quintuplets...born within a space of five minutes via
caesarian on a Wednesday morning, the cute fivesome are under the watchful
eyes of the nursing staff of the Castle Street Maternity Hospital, who
monitor their movements. "They'll probably remain in hospital for
four or five more days", says the proud father Sergeant Nimal
Piyatissa who has been desperately searching for suitable accommodation
within Colombo city limits for his suddenly expanded family.
