VSMMC docs: Quadruplets have 50% chance of survival

CEBU, Philippines - The quadruplets born last week have a 50 percent chance to survive with doctors at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) saying this is normal because they are products of multifetal pregnancies.

The babies – two boys and two girls - weigh 850 grams to 1,400 grams with a size of 36 centimeters to 37 centimeters.

The first baby boy weighs 1,400 grams, second baby girl weighs 850 grams, third baby girl weighs 1,400 grams and the fourth baby boy weighs 1,000 grams.Dr. Christine Abugay, the attending doctor, said the babies are too small and have not shown signs of growing.

Laboratory tests showed all four babies are suffering from infection. They have also manifested yellowish discoloration, a sign that their bodies’ are responding to bacteria.

One of the babies has a congenital deformity. He has a cleft lip that can be fixed through minor surgery.

“At their current state, they are vulnerable to all types of infection. That is why they have to stay here to be closely monitored,” Abugay said.

Dr. Rommel Capa, chief resident doctor of VSMMC’s Pediatric Department, said one of the risk factors of the babies is their prematurity.

Today is the infants’ sixth day of hospitalization and fourth day of antibiotic treatment. They were born last July 4.

“After the second day of intravenous therapy, they are all now stable although they are all premature by birth, they all received antibiotics,” says the medical bulletin issued by the VSMCC at 1 p.m. yesterday.

Baby Girl II, Baby Girl III and Baby Boy IV are confined at the neonatal intensive care unit, while Baby Boy I is at the pediatric ward.

Dr. Joseph Al L. Alesna, VSMMC chief for special concerns, said that Baby Boy I, the first to come out, is being isolated from the rest of his siblings because he might be carrying a different type of organism since he was born in a different environment.

Their mother, 38-year-old Marcelina Omaya, gave birth to Baby Boy I at their house in Argao on July 4.

She was immediately brought to the VSMMC, over 60 kilometers from Argao, where she gave birth to the rest of the babies.

She left the hospital last Sunday after she was cleared for discharge.

Ernesto Omaya, the 43-year-old father of the quadruplets, said they will visit the babies once a week.

The babies are being fed through orogastric feeding where a tube is used to supply the breast milk directly from the mouth to the stomach.

Abugay said that milk to feed the babies is one of their problems since the mother is no longer around.

Even before Marcelina was discharged from the hospital, she was complaining that no milk can be extracted from her breasts.

“We need her here so we can teach her the technique. These babies need breastmilk, where else will we get that, but from her?” Abugay said.

The babies might have to stay at the hospital for a long time until the doctors are able to control the infection while the babies show signs of growth.

Abugay said the infants have to grow steadily by about 30 grams a day. Capa added that infants weighing less than a kilo are very vulnerable.

Last month, VSMMC also attended to a mother from Lapu-Lapu City who gave birth to triplets.

The VSMMC advised those who want to help the quadruplets to course their assistance through the VSMMC Medical Social Worker as a standard operating procedure. The local government unit of Argao through Mayor Edsel Galeos promised to shoulder the hospital expenses of the babies. The provincial Capitol also promised help.

Meanwhile, the VSMMC will conduct its routine preventive hospital maintenance at the Delivery and Labor Room, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Ward I and Ward II from July 19 to 29. No obstetrics cases will be accepted during the duration.

Patients from the southern part of Cebu will be referred to the St. Anthony Mother and Child and Talisay City District Hospital while those from the north will be referred to Eversley Child Sanitarium in Mandaue City. — /LPM (FREEMAN)