On the 6th of July 2020, Dr. Siti Nurul Aishah Jamaludin, a non-practicing medical doctor gave birth to 3 handsome triplet boys in under 20 minutes! Despite all challenges and having to experience a miscarriage previously, she naturally delivered 3 handsome triplet boys in Johor, Malaysia –  NATURALLY!

 

In 2017, Dr. Nurul conceived naturally but was devastated to find out that she had undergone a miscarriage from an unknown cause. Nonetheless, Dr. Thokha bin Muhammad, Consultant of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Regency Specialist Hospital who was her doctor at the time (and to-date) encouraged Dr Nurul to keep trying naturally.

 

After 2 years, Dr. Nurul and her 11 years age gap husband, Mr. Iqbal Idris looked into fertility treatments as a solution to their dream of starting a family. To their delight, in January 2020, the couple found out that the IVF insemination had been successful with not just one baby, but triplets!

“At the beginning Dr. Tokha told us that we were having twins. But after a second scan, he apologised and told us that we were not having twins.. we were having TRIPLETS!”- Dr. Siti Nurul Aishah Jamaludin

 

Challenges along the way

 

 

In March 2020, Malaysia’s MCO was announced and it was both a blessing and a curse to Dr. Nurul and her husband as they had to adjust to the many work-life difficulties. Most of the challenges started on the 6th month of pregnancy due to her large womb size that pretty much restricted her movements and independence.She wasn’t able to drive, carry heavy items or even walk or stand for long periods of time. Even showering was a heavy task that required her to sit instead of stand.

 

 

At one point, Dr Nurul decided to get a wheelchair to help reduce the contractions. Since she was having triplets, when one baby kicks the other will too and that can be a little uncomfortable to go through. Carrying triplets also meant that the risk of delivering too early is high. Dr Thokha and Dr Nurul gave themselves a KPI to try as best as they can to keep the babies in the womb till they reached 37 weeks.

 

 

Delivery Day

Despite all the challenges, Dr. Nurul managed to carry her triplets up to their 36th week. On the day of her delivery, she had felt that her stomach was harder than usual and urged her husband to take her to the hospital for a check up. To her surprise, she was actually having contractions all day long and was admitted to the hospital for delivery.

 

 

After just 20 minutes in the labour room, Dr. Nurul successfully delivered her triplets naturally on 6 July 2020 at 4am with her babies averaging a healthy weight of 2.6kg.

 

 

Delivering triplets naturally, is something that was uncommon in the healthcare circle, but Dr. Nurul said the decision to naturally deliver her triplets despite all known and unknown risks is a brave decision that was supported by both her husband and her highly experienced O&G doctor, Dr. Thokha, which she trusted entirely with her triplets’ and her own life.

 

 

Risk in delivering multiples

One of the biggest risk in delivering triplets is having the second and third baby stuck in the womb. According to Dr. Thokha, once the first baby is out, the uterus will not contract for easily 20 to 30 minutes. This gives doctors the opportunity to reposition the babies for the delivery of the second and third, but in most cases a caesarean section is needed to delivery the other babies.

 

 

Delivering triplets naturally is a rare procedure and Dr. Nurul is the first in many cases to have successfully delivered triplets through vaginal delivery. This also marks a significant O&G milestone within the healthcare circle and opens up space to the possibly new norm of triplets to be delivered via normal delivery apart from caesarean delivery.

 

 

Dr. Nurul & The Triplets Today

Dr. Nurul and the triplets are home and healthy. They are feeding well and growing up fast within one month. Most importantly they are gaining weight. Dr. Nurul also mentions that each of her babies have their own distinct cries- amazing isn’t it!

Dr. Nurul has also lost 20kg of baby weight and is still in confinement.

 

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