Triple(-ts) the luck for new parents
After spending 78 days in Neonatal ICU, the van der Merwe triplets from Sunward Park were finally ready to go home on May 28.
McKayla, Liam and Mason were born at 26 weeks, on March 11, in Pretoria East Hospital.
Today, they are healthy and ready to grow stronger.
“When they just came out of my womb we got a fright, as they were so tiny,” said mother of the triplets, Ronelle van der Merwe.
“But seeing them in the neonatal, gave us hope.”
At birth, McKayla (triplet one) weighed 805g, Liam (triplet two) 1.03kg and Mason (triplet three) 915g.
For Ronelle the day after the birth was emotionally the hardest, because as an expectant mother she couldn’t wait for the day to meet her newborns, hold them in her arms and just feel the joy overflowing.
“Instead, they were taken away from me looking so little and fragile and it was difficult as a mother to let go,” she said.
“It was heartbreaking having to look at them through incubators with tubes and wires connected just about everywhere to their little bodies and appearing as if they were struggling to stay alive.”
Ronelle stayed in the hospital for about a week after the birth and thereafter travelled to Pretoria every day.
“The first two weeks were the worst, as there were all these medical complications with each of them,” she said.
Today, McKayla weighs 2.30kg, Liam 2.7kg and Mason 2.4kg.
“The doctors and nurses were amazing at keeping us calm and we felt at ease that they (the triplets) were in good hands and receiving the best possible medical attention,” said Ronelle.
“It was a long journey with a lot of ups and downs, but we are incredibly blessed that today they have no health issues.”
Ronelle and her husband Gareth would like to thank all the medical staff and their gynaecologist at Pretoria East Hospital for everything they have done for them.
“They sure contributed to a happy ending.”
