8 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 3, 2022 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Jamaica Hospital celebrates discharge of two sets
of miracle triplets from neonatal intensive care unit
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
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 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. Th e
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. “Th e news didn’t
come until aft er the fourth doctor’s
visit. For the fi rst 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.
“Th e 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 receive
round-the-clock care.
“Th ere 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 the most
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). Th is 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.
“Th e 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, maternal-fetal 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. Th ere are oft en
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 defi nition begins sometime
during the fi nal month of
pregnancy through about fi ve
months aft er delivery, without
any other known cause. Most
commonly, it occurs right aft er
delivery. It is a rare condition
that can carry mild or severe
symptoms.
Th ere 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
signifi cant is called twin-twin
transfusion syndrome (TTTS)
which can potentially be lifethreatening.
Caring for the moms and
babies was a well-coordinated
eff ort between multiple departments.
Th ere 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 fi rst set of triplets
and on Dec. 18 the last baby
remaining in the NICU went
home to join her family.
“Th ese 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.
Following their discharges
from the NICU, the hospital continues
to celebrate major milestones
with the babies, including
their fi rst Christmas. Employees
gave the families baskets fi lled
with gift s for the holiday.
Th e babies are also now
patients of the hospital’s family
care clinics where they receive
wellness checkups to ensure
they are well and growing as
expected.
Photo courtesy of Jamaica Hospital
The Hoyos family and their newborn triplets.
“These days will be
celebrated forever
among everyone
involved in this
journey.”
— Dr. Ajey Jain
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