Durban - Believing she was pregnant with a sibling for her nine-year-old daughter, Nongoma mother Nobuhle Qwabe says she was stunned when she was told while in labour that she was having quadruplets.
The health department said on Monday that Qwabe’s three girls and a boy had been successfully delivered at Benedictine Hospital in Zululand on Sunday night.
Qwabe, 27, of Nongoma, said she had not attended antenatal classes and had had no idea she would give birth to quadruplets.
“I honestly didn’t know I was carrying four babies. I was surprised when the nurses told me I was carrying more than one child.
“But when the doctors arrived, and the babies kept coming, I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked, but I’m excited now.”
Qwabe, who is unemployed and lives with her grandmother and two sisters, said she would need help with clothing and baby formula.
“I don’t know how I’m going to care for the babies because I only have two hands.”
Three of the babies were delivered by Dr Sibusiso Sithole, who is based at Nkonjeni Hospital, and had been called after nurses found out there was more then one baby.
Sithole said he and medical graduate Kenneth Mbhele had arrived at the hospital to help deliver the second baby.
“We were surprised to learn that there was a third baby still coming. According to our training, triplets are far more common than quadruplets, so it would have been easy to assume that she had was having triplets.
“But when we checked, we discovered a fourth baby. We were truly, truly surprised.”
Sithole, who studied medicine at a Cuban university through the government’s doctor training programme, said the babies had weighed between 1kg and 1.3kg and were healthy.
He described the delivery of the quadruplets as a “miracle”.
“This was not a one-man show. I would also like to thank my colleague Dr Mbhele, and the nurses involved.”
The babies will be transferred to a higher-level healthcare institution for further care.
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo wished Qwabe and her babies good health and thanked the doctors for their work. He appealed for pregnant mothers in the province to start antenatal care early for optimal care of mothers and newborns.
Health Department spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi has confirmed that Qwabe only found out she was having quadruplets while she was giving birth.
The Mercury