![\"\"](\"https:\/\/horizonnews.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG-20221118-WA0133-1.jpg\")
\u201cOne day after screening I stated having\ncontractions on my 24th<\/sup> week of pregnancy. Upon visiting the doctor,\nI gave birth to my twins who were premature; one weighing 1.8 kilograms and the\nother 850 grams. To prepare me mentally, the doctors advised me to expect\nanything due to my babies\u2019 complicated state of health. I remained positive as\nmy babies were rushed to MBU since they were underweight and not fully\ndeveloped\u2026\u201d said Shally<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shally says that two hours after giving birth to two\nbaby girls, she received the sad news that one of them had passed on. Despite\nthe pain she felt for losing her daughter, she was barred from viewing her dead\nbody due to cultural beliefs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She narrates that she stayed in the hospital for\nthree months nursing the other twin. She had to embrace a close feeding routine\nwhere she was supposed to feed the baby after every three hours, every day. She\ndescribes these to be one of the tough moments in her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor my kid to survive, I had to stay in the\nhospital for three months eating hospital food. Not that I was sick, but\nbecause I was having sleepless nights to feed the baby every now and then. It\nwas tough, challenging journey but I thank God my baby was a strong girl.\u201d Said\nShally <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sally continues with her narration saying that at\nsome point weight of her baby dropped to six grams and when there was no\nelectricity her babies\u2019 condition worsened. Despite these challenges, she had\nhope that she would one day walk out of hospital carrying her bundle of joy\nhome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne day the power went off and the generator was\nnot working my babies life was at stake, she wasn\u2019t breathing. I was scared\nthat I might lose my baby but I thank God when the doctor wanted to start\npumping her electricity came back and my baby was back in the incubator again.\u201d\nSaid Shally <\/p>\n\n\n\n She says that she was able to be transferred to\nkangaroo when the baby was 1.6 kilograms where there is skin to skin contact with\nthe baby. This is the final stage of care where the baby and the mother spend\nmore timetogether once the baby is stabilize and can survive without the\nincubator. After the baby is termed healthy by the doctor, the patient is discharged\nfrom the hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince Dona (survived twin) was 850 grams we had to\nstart from room one which is under 1.5kilograms. Dona dropped to 600 grams we\nhad to pull up to 1.5kg to be able to be transferred to room two. We straggled\nfor two months to attain 1.5kgs and went to room two where we stayed for two\nweeks and she attained 1.6kgs. We were then transferred to kangaroo where there\nis skin to skin contact every time. We came out of kangaroo with 1.8kgs in 15th<\/sup>\nMay 2022.\u201d Shally Narrated <\/p>\n\n\n\n She advised other mothers who have preterm babies to\nremain strong and prayerful since caring for a preterm baby is not an easy task.\nIn addition, having a supportive family and husband is a plus to the growth of\nthe baby and the mother\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doctor Rose Malangachi, who is a pediatricianand the\none who takes care of these babies in Kakamega Referral Hospital, is\nrecommending for these services to be extended to all level four hospitals in\nthe 12 sub-counties to reduce congestion at the referral hospital. This will\nallow mothers who are unable to reach the referral hospital to receive this\nhealth care near their homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI only have ten incubators for 80 babies. This makes it hard for us to control these babies temperature as the ratio does not allow. Neonatal mortality rate is high because of the challenges we are facing and I believe if we should capacity build our level four hospitals so that we can decongest the County General Hospital.\u201d Said Malanagchi <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Dr Malangachi said that as doctors, they are forced\nto brake protocols by placing two to three babies per incubator due to lack of\nenough incubators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the moment I am having two to three per\nincubator already I have broken protocol but where do I send them and that\u2019s\nwhy as a team of pediatrics we have done a lot of mentorship to sub county\nhospitals. My plea to the county government is to capacity build so that\npreterms will be provided with enough care.\u201d Said\nMalangachi<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kakamega county chief officer Felister Mora said\nthat the county government is working towards supporting the health department\nfinancially to reduce neonatal mobility and mortality rates of preterm babies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n End <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seliphar Musungu. Kakamega Preterm birth is a global problem and keeps rising every day. According to a report by World Health Organization, there are about 15 million children born prematurely every year in the world, 193,000 of these cases being in Kenya. Premature birth and its complications have been ranked asthe second leading cause of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kenya-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cAfter two hours, a report from one of the nurses came that one of my babies was no more. I couldn\u2019t believe that since my babies apart from being premature, they were doing so well. My culture does not allow me to see a dead child so as to protect the other. I had to stay strong for the other baby.\u201d Shally said <\/strong><\/code><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/horizonnews.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG-20221118-WA0097.jpg\")