Mutesi: Mother of twins, triplets and quintuplets

Inside one of the wards at Nakavule Hospital in Iganga District is Sofia Mutesi admitted with a set of five newborn babies, quintuplets. Three girls and two boys. On this warm Sunday afternoon, they lay spread on a hospital bed each covered with a little blanket.
Their tiny heads are covered except the black curly hair which sticks out of the blanket. The babies hardly make any movements. They are fast asleep. Their mother sits quietly on a chair next to the bed looking exhausted and feeble.
Mutesi gave birth to the set of five on August 24, at two respective health facilities, Ivukula Health Centre III and Nakavule Hospital in Iganga District. Their birth attracted great media attention hence leading to excitement among Ugandans. Many wondered how exactly a woman could give birth to five children moreover naturally. It is something hardly heard of in this country.
“I did not visit any doctor or herbalist seeking help for any kind of multiple birth. My babies are God-given,” she says, adding, “I am a woman for this huge miracle”
Despite the fact that the babies are fine, in good health, and, without any defects, they were still in the hospital being closely monitored by medical personnel at Nakavule hospital.
The happiness does not, however, remove the uneasiness looming on her mind.
“I am only worried because my husband and I do not know exactly how we are going to look after them. There is no money. We are not wealthy people, ” Mutesi says.

Family structure and home
Mutesi and Birari Basale, her husband, are residents of Nawaikoke Village in Namutumba District. They are peasant farmers who grow maize and cassava. Their residence is a one-room grass-thatched house which the couple already shares with seven children. These include Hadijah Namuganda and Aisha Nambeya, who are twins, aged seven years. Then, Sania Nakobere, aged five, and Fatuma Namulemeri, aged four. There are also triplets Hadijah Jimbo, Sofia Mutesi and Nairu Namalat. The trio is three years old.
Every night, Mutesi says they have to squeeze inside the grass-thatched house so that at least everyone has where to sleep.
“It is quite uncomfortable, but then again, there is nothing we can do. We have nowhere else to go,” she says.
The inadequacy of space back home is what also worries doctors. The doctors are bothered on how exactly the couple will be able to look after their 12 children in that homestead.
The concern is mainly about the quintuplets.
“Right after they were born, the doctors asked us a number of things including questions about the set-up of our home. After we told them that we lived in a one-room grass-thatched hut, we were discouraged from taking the babies home. They told us the conditions were poor and could be fatal for them,” Mutesi says, adding: “It’s why they decided to keep us in hospital.”
Basale chips in, “I was given instructions not to take them home until I have got a better house. I was advised to either rent or build another structure.”
The problem though, is we barely have money. The couple only earn peanuts as peasants. They are still figuring out how exactly they will build the house.

The other seven children
When Mutesi gave birth to her first twins, Namuganda and Nambeya, seven years ago, it caused excitement for the couple.
“We were very delighted after the birth of the girls,” Basale says.
The birth of Nakobere followed. She is now five years old. Namulemeri followed. She is four years today.
Despite having four children at the time, Basale says he wanted to have more in the hope of getting a boy too.
“I only had girls at the time, yet, I was yearning for at least a boy, one, who would become the heir of the family,” he says.
So, the couple went on to have other children who turned out to be triplets; Jimbo, Mutesi and Namalat.
On how the couple felt after the triplets were born, Mutesi says she was happy, regardless of their sex.
“They are still children whom I adored very much,” she says.
But Basale says although he was delighted over the birth of the triplets, he still felt a yearning for a boy child.
The couple emphasises they did not seek any kind of medical intervention to produce either twins or triplets.
“They are a blessing from God just like the quintuplets,” Basale says.
The father of 12 says the deliveries are probably because the couple have a history of multiple births from their respective families.

The arrival of quintuplets
Longing for a baby boy compelled Basale to ask his wife to try for another child and she agreed. During one antenatal visit, where a scan was done, Mutesi was told she was only carrying two fetuses. This was why she was a little shocked and scared when delivering quintuplets. Despite the shock, Mutesi was consoled that among the five newly born babies, there were two boys.
Her husband’s search for a boy child is now over.
“My heart is now settled,” he says.
The couple don’t plan on having more children.

What it means raising these children
Before the birth of the quintuplets, the couple says they were already struggling to look after the seven children.
“I barely had the money to look after these children,” says Basale.
They used their little earnings from their farm produce for buying necessities mostly clothing and medicine. For food, the family ate the same maize and cassava grown in their garden.
When it comes to responsibilities, the couple says they work hand in hand in order to ease the workload in the house.
“Although I tend to concentrate most on the farm work, whenever I am free, I help my wife do some of the chores. I may help her bathe the children, do a bit of washing, sweep the compound, among other tasks,” he says.
Basale says leaving all the chores to his wife would break her, especially now that they have new additions to the family.
The couple’s four older children are in school. They study within the village where the couple stays. Basale says he pays Shs40,000 as fees for each child every term. On how the couple manages to accord equal attention to each child, Basale says the older ones are at least independent.
“It’s the younger ones who crave attention mostly. There are times you find about three young ones crying to be carried at the same time. And, when you don’t, they yell even louder,” Basale says.
He says that in extreme cases, you will find him carrying all the three at once, probably while sited and placing them on different positions of his laps. As much as the younger ones crave the most attention, the couple says they still attend to the needs of the older ones.
“From time to time, we talk to them by expressing how we love them so that they don’t feel left out,” the couple says.

Plan for the quintuplets
At the moment, the couple is still not sure of how they will raise their newly born set. It is the support from the family members, friends and well-wishers that keeps them going.
“There are people who have been very kind to us after our babies were born. They have not only congratulated us but also gone ahead to give us money, pampers, toiletries, and other necessities ideal for the babies,” Basale says.
It is their generosity that is keeping the family going, so far.
But the couple is not sure what their next move will be after all supplies run out.

What the midwife says
Maureen Babine, a midwife at Nakavule Hospital in Iganga District, says:
“We advised the couple to choose an effective family planning method so as to prevent any further births. The husband agreed that we insert a contraceptive implant,” she says.
Babine adds, “Mutesi’s deliveries are mostly likely as a result of the history of multiple births in her family and that of her husband. It is genetic.”