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Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2022
Jamaica Hospital celebrates discharge of two sets
of miracle triplets from neonatal intensive care unit
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Two families are enjoying
every minute spent with their
newborn baby girls, two sets of
triplets who boldly made their
debut into the world at Jamaica
Hospital within two days apart
from each other.
On Nov. 9, 2021, the Cruz
family, of Jamaica, welcomed
their baby girls — Celeste,
Alma and Sol —into the world.
The Hoyos family, of Brooklyn,
celebrated the birth of their little
girls — Akoma, Eliette and
Arlet — two days later.
Luz Cruz said she’s happy
that her newborn baby girls
are home and healthy, as she
thanked Jamaica Hospital
for their assistance and care
throughout the pregnancy.
“When we found out we
were pregnant, we were very
excited,” Cruz said. “The news
didn’t come until after the
fourth doctor’s visit. For the
first couple of weeks, the doctor
hadn’t determined whether
there were three babies yet.”
For Jasmine Hoyos, who
comes from a family of twins,
the triplets are truly a blessing
from God, she said.
“The doctor had said, ‘Oh,
there’s a little problem here’
and she said there’s not two
babies, there’s three,” Hoyos
said. “My younger daughter
was there and my husband
couldn’t believe it; he needed to
see proof,” Hoyos said. “We are
very happy that they’re home
and healthy.”
Months of preparation and
planning resulted in two successful
deliveries.
Both sets of triplets were
born early, during the 32nd
week of the pregnancy, and
transferred to Jamaica Hospital’s
Level 3 Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit (NICU), where they
remained for several weeks to
The Hoyos family and their newborn triplets. Photo courtesy of Jamaica Hospital
receive round-the-clock care.
“There are certain things
we want to achieve while babies
are in the NICU,” said Dr.
Ajey Jain, chairperson of the
hospital’s Pediatric Department.
“We want to ensure that
they can breathe on their own
without support, that they can
maintain a stable body temperature
and are able to breastfeed
or bottle-feed.”
According to recent statistics
reported by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), over 3 million babies
were born in the United States
in 2019. Among this group, only
3,136 were triplets. Very few of
these births occurred spontaneously
(without the assistance
of fertility treatments). This is
because the chance of triplets
being conceived naturally occurs
only once in every 10,000
pregnancies.
Spontaneous triplets are uncommon,
and with birth rates
declining across the country,
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center
was not anticipating that it
would be setting a record for
the facility by delivering two
sets of triplets, both naturally
conceived, two days apart.
“The chance of this happening
is rare. So, when we learned
that two of our moms were expected
to deliver triplets very
close to each other, we were
excited. We also knew there
would be a lot of hard work and
careful planning ahead,” said
Dr. Ugochi Akoma, maternalfetal
medicine specialist and
director of Perinatal Diagnostic
Centers and Obstetric Ultrasound
at Jamaica Hospital.
Having triplets or any form
of multiple pregnancy is considered
high risk. There are
often health problems that can
develop and lead to preterm labor
and birth.
“We encountered a few complications
during both pregnancies,”
Akoma said. “Both
moms at some point in the early
third trimester had to be monitored
closely for cardiac symptoms.
Moms who are pregnant
with multifetal pregnancies
have a higher risk of developing
a cardiac condition called
peripartum cardiomyopathy,
which fortunately was not diagnosed.”
Peripartum cardiomyopathy
is a weakness of the heart
muscle that by definition begins
sometime during the final
month of pregnancy through
about five months after delivery,
without any other known
cause. Most commonly, it occurs
right after delivery. It is a
rare condition that can carry
mild or severe symptoms.
There were also concerns
about the babies’ health. Doctors
diagnosed one of the triplets
with fetal growth restriction,
a condition that causes
babies not to grow and develop
according to gestational age
standards.
In the other set of triplets,
two of the babies shared one
placenta. Several problems
could occur when this happens;
the most significant is
called twin-twin transfusion
syndrome (TTTS) which can
potentially be life-threatening.
Caring for the moms and
babies was a well-coordinated
effort between multiple departments.
There were frequent
meetings and mock drills conducted
that involved OB/GYN,
NICU, nursing, pediatric, cardiology,
respiratory, BioMed,
anesthesia, medicine, social
work and blood bank professionals.
“We worked together as one
team and our collective goal
was to ensure a safe pregnancy
and delivery for both families,”
Akoma said.
On Dec. 6, Jamaica Hospital
graduated the first set of triplets
and on Dec. 18 the last baby
remaining in the NICU went
home to join her family.
“These days will be celebrated
forever among everyone
involved in this journey. All the
babies went home in time for
the holidays, and one mother
got her little girls in time for
her birthday,” Jain said.
Reach reporter Carlotta Mohamed
by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4526.
Vol. 10 No. 4 36 total pages
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