Nzariturike Nyirandihuke, a devoted 32-year-old mother from Congo, is the very image of motherhood – a smiling woman with her lap full of sweet children. But in her case, her lap is very full! During her most recent pregnancy, she suddenly found out that she was carrying triplets, and her whole world turned upside down. 

A multiples pregnancy is considered complicated and high-risk even under the best circumstances. When you are displaced and living in a refugee settlement with limited access to medical care, the stakes could not be higher. 

A Routine Visit Becomes Anything But 

 Nzariturike and her five children fled from unstable and violent living conditions in Congo in 2019 in hope of finding a safer place to raise her family. Her husband had escaped capture from the rebel groups and fled before them –thankfully, they were all united again once they arrived in Uganda.  

Before the war, Nzariturike and her husband were farmers and had a bountiful garden. Now, living in the refugee settlement, they were given a very small piece of land with no space to cultivate anything. Even the few things they planted did not generate enough food due to the poor growing conditions. Life was hard, but at least she and her family were safe.  

Nzariturike is HIV positive and receives monthly medication to manage the condition from the local Medical Teams clinic. At one of these routine visits, she shared with the doctor that she had been experiencing a constant backache for a few weeks, and he recommended that she take a pregnancy test. To her shock, she was pregnant.  

I cried when I found out I was expecting,” she shared. “I kept wondering how I was going to manage raising another child in this hard situation.” 

After some supportive conversations with her husband, they resolved to bravely face this new challenge, believing that God was there to support them and the baby. Little did they know that there were actually 3 new lives growing inside Nzariturike, and this would make an already challenging situation even more dangerous for both mother and babies.   

A Growing Surprise  

At 6 months pregnant, Nzariturike attended her third prenatal appointment, and the midwife informed her that she would be having twins. She recalls laughing out loud at the surprise, but she remained positive and encouraged by the care she was receiving during her pregnancy. As she progressed though, the strain of carrying 2 babies began to take its toll on her.  

“I was overwhelmed and tired all the time. The pregnancy was hard, I always had a terrible backache, and this stopped me from doing any work.  Sometimes I couldn’t walk so I would be stuck at home,” she recalls. 

Despite the physical challenges, she was surrounded by a supportive husband and loving children, and together they did all that they could to prepare for their new family members.  

Early Labor and an Emergency Delivery 

Nzariturike’s due date was in December, but since she was high-risk, the midwife at the clinic told her to come in right away if she ever experienced any unusual pains or symptoms. One day towards the end of November, she began to feel strong pains and rushed into the Medical Teams clinic. The doctor there told her that she’d gone into labor a month early, and that the babies were coming now.  

Miraculously, she delivered both babies without any complications – but then, the midwife took a second look at her still-swollen belly. An examination revealed something none of them were prepared for. A third baby! Nzariturike bravely continued to labor until the third baby was born, but unfortunately, she was in critical condition. Additionally, all 3 babies were a month premature and needed special care in order to be stabilized. Blessedly, she learned that all 3 babies were HIV negative. 

Luckily, the clinic had the resources to provide NICU-level care (neonatal intensive care unit) to the babies while Nzariturike recovered, still in disbelief that she was now a mother of triplets. After a blood transfusion, additional warmth, and other stabilizing care, the babies were finally ready to go home to meet their family after a 3-week NICU stay. While it initially seemed like they had overcome the challenge of coming safely into the world, this tenacious mother would now have to face another challenge – how to adequately nourish these 3 precious new babies.

Mighty Milk, and a Little Help 

While the babies were in the NICU, Nzariturike was able to start breastfeeding them as well as supplementing them with infant formula provided by Medical Teams. Nzariturike was providing her babies with an incredible gift – receiving breastmilk is especially critical for premature babies since it contains specialized molecules that line and protect babies’ underdeveloped digestive systems. It is also easily digestible and provides real-time immune benefits that protect fragile preemies from illnesses.  

However, producing enough milk for 3 babies is a challenge for any mother, and shortly after arriving home with the newborns, Nzariturike feared that she wasn’t making enough milk to meet their nutritional needs.  

Unable to afford the high cost of infant formula, she returned to Medical Teams for more support. She was soon visited by one of our nutritionists, Sophia, who reassured her that they could come up with a solution together.  

Sophia brokered a conversation between Nzariturike and a local herdsman; Medical Teams agreed to compensate him for 2 liters of cow’s milk per day, which would be enough to supplement the babies and ensure that they remained healthy. This arrangement continued until the babies were 6 months old and could start incorporating other kinds of food, like porridge, into their diets. 

With regular check-ins from Sophia and another Medical Teams nutritionist, Musa, Nzariturike could finally begin to confidently enjoy being a mother of 8, knowing that she and her babies had the support they needed to thrive.  

Three Times the Love 

Nzariturike’s incredible story is a true testament to the strength of mothers, who will go to any lengths to make sure that their children are safe and healthy. This is why the care of mothers is so cental to our mission at Medical Teams, because mothers are truly the foundation for the health of a community.  

Although there were some harrowing moments along the journey, Nzariturike shares how grateful she is that these miracle babies came into her life: 

“Now I’m so happy when I see how beautiful my girls are, I can’t believe they’re all mine,” she gushes.  

Her hopes for the girls? Nzariturike dreams of watching them grow and find amazing careers of their own. “In the future, I hope to take my children to school so they can become teachers, nurses, and doctors,” she shares. How incredible if they were to enter a career where they could provide the same life-saving medical care that was provided to them as tiny newborns. Now that is truly an example of building a community’s health for generations to come.  

If you want to support mothers like Nzariturike and her children, you can make a gift now and invest in women’s health today, and for future generations!