Mom With Quintuplets in Yerevan Armenia

What an opportunity awaited us the day we visited Markarian Maternity Hospital in Yerevan, Armenian in May 2017.  An Armenian mother had delivered natural quintuplets (5 babies) 12 weeks prematurely at a small community hospital. Sadly, because of their prematurity and the lack of medical technology, 3 out the 5 babies died on the day of delivery. One baby stayed with the mom at the delivery hospital; one baby was transported to Markaryan Maternity Hospital in Yerevan, the capital city. The one of the two surviving babies out of  5 was 2 weeks old when we visited this hospital.  The mother had not been allowed to hold her baby because her baby required breathing support. This was not because NICU staffers were uncaring. They were simply ignorant of the simple steps to transfer a baby from the incubator to her mother’s arms, while maintaining effective breathing support for this baby’s underdeveloped lungs.

With the help of a translator, I was able to tell the mother that she would be able to hold her baby for the first time. Initially she looked confused and doubtful. I explained how she would lift and hold her baby while I and another nurse would transfer the monitor and tubing. She slowly nodded her head in understanding. When she sat in the chair and we stabilized the equipment, tears flowed from her eyes. For the first time  in two weeks she was holding the precious life  that had been transferred from her shortly after birth. Tears filled my eyes when as I stood by her and smiled at the precious scene. There were tears in the eyes of Armenian staff too, seeing the response of this mother, and how easily we had facilitated this.

An additional benefit for this mother was drastic improvement in her milk production. After holding her baby skin-to-skin for 45 minutes, Cyndi our lactation consultant from  CHOC assisted this mother in pumping breast milk. Prior to this, the mother was making only an extremely small amount of breast milk , chiefly because of the stress and separation she has been experiencing. After holding her baby, she was able to pump an ounce of breast milk for the first time in 2 weeks.. This was a profound improvement and encouragement to her. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a collaborator and change agent for this mother, baby, and the entire NICU staff.

Kristine Golden, RN
NICU Nurse
CHOC Children’s Hospital