GYN CHRONICLES
Prematurity
By Dr . Maureen Owiti
17th November is a very interesting day in health . It is both Cervical Cancer Elimination Day of Action and World Prematurity Day . Being a gynaecologist it is obvious I should speak on gynaecological issues right ? I love advocacy and that ’ s probably why I do this column , however I recently penned an article on cervical cancer so I ’ ll pass and move to uncharterd waters this time around .
Down memory in the years BC , which in modern lingo is not Before Christ but Before Computers somewhere in the 80 ’ s . Mr and Mrs . Odero were very excited they were expecting their first baby . Her period was late and the morning sickness was too telling of what the situation was . Being upwardly mobile fresh graduates with great prospects and reasonable paying jobs they did what most middle class soon to be parents would do - they went to see an obstetrician . This word seems to give Kenyans grief . I feel we are all aware but the obstetrician is the doctor for pregnant women , whereas the gynaecologist , who many a time is also the obstetrician , deals with issues of the reproductive system when a woman is not pregnant .
At the clinic they had a very pleasant experience until the doctor wrote “ abnormal pregnancy .” Mrs . Odero was not amused and quite frankly was out-rightly offended and in her usual fashion crisply asked the doctor why he thought her pregnancy was abnormal . The doctor in a matterof-fact way stated she had a twin pregnancy , which could result in many complications .
Being typical Africans from the lakeside the prospect of twins quite excited the young couple and they faithfully attended all the scheduled clinics . It was not an easy pregnancy and as fate would have it 3 months prior to their expected date of delivery Mrs . Odero went into labor . Mr . Odero rushed her to hospital and their doctor was called . She delivered the first twin Apiyo at 850g and five minutes later out popped Odongo at 900g .
I love Luo naming . In Luo , Piyo means to be quick and the first twin is perceived to be quick . We were all taught that girls names begin with an ‘ A ’ and boys with ‘ O ’ therefore the first female twin would be called
“ So , what is prematurity or a preterm birth ? Preterm is defined as babies born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed . They are categorized as : extremely preterm ( less than 28 weeks ); very preterm ( 28 to 32 weeks ); and moderate to late preterm ( 32 to 37 weeks ).”
Apiyo while the male Opiyo . “ Dong ” on the other hand means to remain and thus the second twin will be Adongo or Odongo . Luo linguistic experts can advise on what happens with high order gestations such as triplets and quadruplets . We don ’ t necessarily have to use the twin tag but it ’ s pretty cool as by use of these names everyone automatically knows you are a twin .
I wish I could use the tag healthy bouncy babies , but that was further than the truth . The two babies were tiny creatures that looked like big rats in Mr . Odera ’ s eye and one of them could just fit in the palm of one hand . That was the size of this “ bundle of joy !” To make matters worse their skin was translucent and you could see quite a number of their blood vessels . It was not exactly what he had in mind as his children but it suddenly struck him they were actually his very own children and he had do everything to help them on their already difficult journey called life . The shock was even more severe for Mrs . Odero , she had barely gotten to look at them during the delivery as they were quickly rushed to the nursery to be put in incubators . By the time she was able to see them a similar picture to what Mr . Odero had seen hit her and now add tubes all over the place .
The hospital staff were very kind and the Doctor explained to them the situation . The children were severely premature and their survival was not guaranteed . They say when it rains it pours . Such was the case as if the babies ’ weight was not small enough on subsequent weighing
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