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Press Releases

Premature Triplets Delivered at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi Are Now Home

Infants born at 25 weeks gestation thrive following months of neonatal care

Jun 05, 2017

Bronx, NY

NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi announced today that triplets born in December—almost four months prematurely—have been discharged home in good health, for the first time. Their departure marks the latest progress in a journey of care that included months of carefully coordinated high-risk prenatal care, followed by intensive post-partum care by the hospital’s neonatal medical team.

In the fall of 2016, specialists at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi identified the expectant mother, Amone Akter, as a high-risk obstetrical patient. As such, she received care in the hospital’s high-risk clinic. On December 22, Ms. Akter’s water broke, and she was rushed by ambulance to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, where she was immediately evaluated by a team of obstetricians and maternal fetal medicine specialists. The triplets were delivered the following day at 25 weeks gestation

Because of the extreme prematurity of the infants, Dr. Beth Nagourney, director of Neonatology, assembled three teams—one for each baby—of neonatologists, pediatricians, neonatal nurse practitioners, and respiratory therapists to coordinate care for the two baby boys (Ruhan and Eshaq) and the baby girl (Israt), whose birthweights ranged from 610 to 695 grams (i.e., from 1 lb. 6 oz. to 1 lb. 9 oz.).

“It’s rare for someone to conceive triplets,” said Dr. Nagourney. “The incidence is about one in 6,400. And the fact these babies came almost four months early meant our whole team needed to be ready.”

The babies were immediately admitted to the hospital’s Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which provides comprehensive care for infants born with critical illness at any gestational age or birthweight. One of the babies required emergency surgery at a week of life for an intestinal problem, and another required chest tube placement for a pneumothorax (collapsed lung). One of the babies later required surgery to close a patent ductus arteriosus (a fetal blood vessel that usually closes naturally after birth).

Two of the babies required respirators in the NICU for nearly two months until they were strong enough to breathe on their own, while the third triplet remained on a ventilator for close to three months.

“The Jacobi staff took very good care of me and my babies,” Ms. Akter said. “I will definitely recommend this hospital to my friends and family.”

Amone Akter and Muhamad Baskh (the babies’ father) finally had all three babies home on April 27. At discharge, their weights ranged from 2,380 grams to 2,670 grams (i.e., from 5 lb. 4 oz. to 5 lb. 14 oz.).