Kenyan Quintuplets Die

The entire set of quintuplets who were born over the weekend in Kenya have died.

Thirty-year-old Jacinta Akinyi gave birth to the five naturally-conceived babies on Sunday. Natural quintuplets are incredibly rare, and have a one in 60 million chance of occurring.

Akinyi – who did not know she was pregnant with five babies – went into labour at home, and gave birth to two boys. They both died shortly after birth, and their mother was rushed to hospital after complaining of stomach pain.

At Matata Hospital in Oyugis, Akinyi delivered two girls and a boy. The mother and her children were transferred to another hospital, better equipped to care for the babies.

Unfortunately, the three babies suffered from complications related to blood platelets and pneumonia, and died.

Matata Nursing Officer Kennedy Otieno said: “Ms. Akinyi delivered prematurely, at 33 weeks instead of the normal 40 weeks. The gestation period of [a] human being is 40 weeks but it keeps reducing depending on the number of foetuses in the womb.”

The nursing manager at the hospital Akinyi was transferred to, said that the complications were caused by the fact that Akinyi did not have any pre-natal scans or check-ups, and so the hospital was not prepared to deliver quintuplets.

Akinyi, who already has four living children, thanked the staff at both hospitals for doing their best to save her babies.

Image: Jacinta Akinyi is comforted by her mother-in-law [online image] (2017) sourced on 15 November 2017 from https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/files/2017/11/JACINTA-AKINYI-QUINTIPLETS.jpg