Miracle Birth |
Miracle Birth |
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By
Mary Ann Hellinghausen Multiple births are an everyday occurrence for nurses at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. But the birth of octuplets last December amazed even veteran nurses. The idea of eight babies coming from one mother "was never even vaguely in our minds" when Pam Marr, RN, began nursing at Texas Children’s Hospital 21 years ago. Marr, a staff nurse in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, said, "Even [the birth of] twins back in the ’70s and ’80s was a miracle." But against all odds, Nkem Chukwu, 27, a Nigerian immigrant, delivered the first of her eight babies Dec. 8, and the remaining seven Dec. 20 by cesarean. The babies were born at St. Luke’s labor and delivery unit, then transported to the Texas Children’s neonatal unit for monitoring and postpartum care. Unique event The Dec. 20 delivery was a memorable production number, said Kasie Clark, RN, staff nurse at St. Luke’s, whose job as the circulating nurse was to be sure everyone had everything they needed. "The hall outside [the operating room] was lined up with a neonatal team of four for each baby—that was 28 people just for the babies," she said. Chukwu was calm and resolved, saying, "Lord willing, I’m ready. Let’s go," according to Clark. As each baby was born, the nurses recorded the time of birth and sex, and made 14 tiny footprints before the babies were whisked away by their neonatal teams. "When the delivering physician finally said, ‘That’s it!’ it was such a feeling of relief," Clark said. "There’s always a chance that’s there’s one more than you thought, because the babies are kind of stacked on top of each other." Determined mother Getting Chukwu to the point where she could successfully deliver the infants also was a feat. Her cervix was sewn shut to try to increase the gestational period. "She was very determined to keep those babies in and have them when they were due," said Minnie Vogelpohl, RN, a staff nurse on St. Luke’s antepartum unit who helped Chukwu during much of her two-month pre-delivery hospital stay. "We did our part to help keep those babies in too," she said.
Chukwu preferred to have the lights low and soft African music playing in the background. She prayed before each meal, even before taking a vitamin. Her mother often brought her foods from her home country, although as the babies got bigger, it was difficult for her to eat much at any one time, Vogelpohl said. "She liked to chitchat and talk, and she wanted to find out about my life outside the hospital," Vogelpohl said. "We did our best to keep her in bed and keep her from doing too much. She said God was going to be with her and help her." High-risk birth After the birth of her first child, Ebuka, on Dec. 8, Chukwu remained on the labor and delivery unit in an inverted position in bed, to offset the forces of gravity on the babies. Physicians did not discover that Chukwu was pregnant with eight babies until Ebuka’s birth allowed the remaining infants to shift and have more room. "We were all very shocked [to find out there were eight]" Clark said. "There was a lot of concern—there are so many risks." In fact, lost in all the hoopla about the octuplets is an awareness of the tremendous risks faced by premature infants, the nurses agreed. One of Chukwu’s children, Odera, born at just 10.3 ounces, died a week after birth. The remaining seven have done remarkably well, but the nurses caution that is not the norm. Having multiple babies "is not something women should strive to do," Clark said. "It’s very unusual to have such a good outcome. Most people aren’t that lucky." Five of the surviving octuplets—Chidi, Chima, Ebuka, Echerem, all girls, and Jioke, a boy, are at home with their parents. Chukwu’s husband, Iyke Louis Udobi, is a respiratory therapist. Baby girl Gorom, the youngest of the babies, and Ikem, the firstborn boy, have both had successful abdominal surgery and remain at Texas Children’s. For nurses, caring for the babies in the neonatal unit was no different than caring for the 40 or so premature infants they see every day, Marr said, except that the seven were kept in an area together. Once Chukwu gained enough strength to visit the babies, she tried to hold them on a regular schedule, but that often varied depending on how well the babies were doing, Marr said. "She had a whole ritual she would go through, giving them blessings, talking to them in her native language. We tried to give her some privacy," Marr said. Seeing the different personalities of the infants develop was great, Marr said. "You could tell who would be the leader and who would be the calm one. It was a true pleasure watching them grow." |
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