Argao woman gives birth to quadruplets

CEBU, Philippines - A 38-year-old woman from a mountain barangay in Argao town gave birth last Thursday to quadruplets whose conditions are being closely monitored by doctors at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

The babies - two boys and two girls - were born almost two months early, making them highly vulnerable at the moment.

One of the babies is still in the emergency room while the rest are in the intensive care unit (ICU) because they still need a respirator to breathe.

The parents of the infants, 43-year-old Ernesto Omaya and Marilyn Omaya, are residents of sitio Malacorong, Barangay Usmad, Argao.

Ernesto works at a coal mine in Barangay Linot-od. But his earnings barely sustain the needs of his three children.

Aside from the newly born quadruplets, the Omaya couple has three children - a grade one pupil, a grade three pupil and a third year high school student.

The three grownup children were left in Argao with their relatives while their mother and their newborn siblings are confined at the VSMMC.

Usmad barangay councilman Flaviano Dayaganon said the barangay gave the family rice as assistance.

Dayaganon said the Omaya couple was not aware that Marilyn was conceiving quadruplets.

He said Marilyn was first brought to the hospital in Argao where she gave birth to the first baby.

However, when the doctor found out that there are three more babies inside, she was referred to a Cebu City hospital. The first baby born was the one at the ER as of yesterday.

Assistance needed

“Kinahanglan gyud to sila’g tabang kay pobre kaayo. Wala gani to’y kwarta pagbiya diri niadtong Miyerkules (They really needed assistance since they are very poor. They do not even have money when they left Argao on Wednesday),” Dayaganon said.

Ernesto appealed for help because her wife, Marilyn, cannot produce breast milk to feed the infants.

He said they do not even have money to buy their own food and the medicine for the infants.

Ernesto tried to seek assistance from the Capitol and the Department of Social Welfare and Development but he was turned down until he can produce a medical abstract.

But he cannot secure a medical abstract because Marilyn had a normal delivery.

Worse, he is having a hard time dealing with his wife who is rushing to go home, but wants to leave the babies at the hospital.

Social Workers from the Department of Health assigned at the VSMMC said some medicine needed by the infants are not available for dispense. The social workers have also given their personal money for food assistance.

Fe Camilio, a DOH social worker assigned at the VSMMC, said they referred the patients to the Capitol and the DSWD for assistance especially for the medicine not available in their stock.

Milk subsidy

DSWD Information Officer Jaybee Binghay said that Marilyn may have been suffering from postpartum stress after giving birth.

She said the DSWD is willing to provide milk subsidy if the parents do not have the ability to provide for the infants.

She advised the father to visit the DSWD’s Reception and Study Center for Children across the DSWD-7 Field Office.

The local social welfare in Argao will assess their needs and see what other assistance the department can extend to the family.

Multiple pregnancy is either hereditary, due to older age, high parity and a result of infertility treatments and other reproductive technologies. — /LPM (FREEMAN)