A set of quintuplets was born in Steve Biko Academic Hospital on Wednesday 19 June 2013, the first such set of multiple pregnancy ever in this hospital. After reviewing our records, we have established that the most number of babies ever born in one pregnancy is this hospital was a set of quadruplets (four babies) delivered twenty years ago.
The quintuplets, four girls and one boy, were born to the Mapokgole family of Tembisa in Ekurhuleni. The 31 year old mother and her husband are excited with the new arrivals, and also overwhelmed at the same time. Any couple would certainly need a lot of assistance with handling such a large bundle, and the Mapogelas will not be an exception.
The neonates are, however very small in size because they were born prematurely, a common complication in almost all multiple pregnancies. The four girls range from birth weight of 500gm to 1.05kg, and the boy “weighed in” at 920g.
Complications of prematurity were therefore anticipated, and it is hoped that these will remain minor and manageable. It is for these reasons that the babies are in isolation and parental consent for a photo opportunity and interviews has been withheld for now.
It is of interest to note that the “Mapokgole Quins” were only the second quintuplets in the whole world in the month of June 2013, a set having been delivered in Prague, Europe, on the 1st of June. As far as could be established from records, they are only the third quintuplets to be born in this country; the first were in the 1960s in East London, and the second in Kempton Park in 1980. There is only a 0,00092% chance of a pregnancy producing quintuplets!
