Premature Triplets mean Four Children under the age of 3!!
When Glynn woman, Margaret Ferguson, went for a routine scan in the twelfth week of her pregnancy, she and her husband Roy had a bit of a surprise, to say the least . . . the rather startling news was that Margaret was carrying triplets!
While the couple was surprised and delighted, it couldn’t be denied that they had some anxieties too. For a start, they already had a young son Robbie, aged two, which meant that when the babies were born, they would be faced with the rather daunting prospect of having to cope with four children all under the age of three!! Margaret and Roy were also very much aware of the additional risks associated with multiple pregnancies, including the probability that the babies would be born early and might as a consequence have health problems which even could be, God forbid, potentially serious.
Jake, Curtis and Alfie were born in Antrim Hospital on 30th October, 2005, at almost 31 weeks, weighing 2lbs 8oz, 2lbs 6oz and 2lbs 2oz respectively. They were immediately transferred to the neonatal unit, where they were to stay for the next eight weeks. It was a very worrying time for everyone: Curtis had to have two blood transfusions as a result of a heart problem, and both Alfie and Jake had hernias.
During the babies’ stay in hospital, Margaret learned about the existence of NIMBA, and was able to borrow a breast pump from us. In this way, she was able to supply her own milk for her three babies. This helped the boys immensely, of course – but it also helped Margaret during this very anxious time too: here, she felt, was one important thing she could do for her babies, where she otherwise felt so helpless . . .
When Margaret and Roy brought the three babies home, they knew that with their new, expanded family, they would need a helping hand – or ten! A local social worker was assigned to seek help for the family, but it seemed that there was very little in the way of support or assistance available locally.
When however Margaret called in to the NIMBA office to return the breast pump, she asked the team there whether they would be able to help in any way. She was told about our family support services– and that’s where Winifred, one of our local volunteers, comes into the story.
Larne resident, Winifred Barnes began volunteering with NIMBA in 2003. After Winifred had completed our comprehensive training programme, she was initially placed with a family in Newtownabbey. A mother of four, and a grandmother of five, Winifred has had a lot of experience in caring for babies and hard-earned parenting skills to draw upon. As 2005 drew to a close, the family Winifred was helping at that stage no longer needed her support so urgently, so when she heard about the Ferguson family’s situation and it was suggested that she be assigned to them, she was only too pleased to oblige. The arrangement was that Winifred would visit the family twice a week to help Margaret out with the morning feed, at a time when she would also have to be getting Robbie ready to go out to playgroup often without Roy’s assistance, since he would have to have left for work already at that stage in the day.
Story to be continued...
