Triplets Olivia, Lia and Lana spent the first weeks of their lives in separate incubators in the neonatal unit after arriving eight weeks early.Weighing just 1.3kg each, the newborns were put on oxygen machines at Cork University Maternity Hospital to help their tiny lungs to function.And Olivia, who was born first, had to fight harder than her siblings to survive after she caught a bacterial infection.But after two agonising weeks their mum Kinga Stula finally got to cuddle her three “princesses” together for the very first time.
She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “That was something special.
“I was waiting to hold them separately for three days, they were in the incubators and I wasn’t allowed to touch them.
“Then after two weeks I was able to hold all three of them at once. It was something really beautiful, such an amazing feeling as a mother.
“And they could be together again because in my belly they were together and they were able to touch each other. I will never forget that moment.
“I will remember it for the rest of my life, definitely.”
Kinga, 33, was in shock when she found out she was having triplets on her first pregnancy – and the nurse needed a second opinion to confirm there were three babies.
Conceiving triplets naturally is rare, with odds of one in 7,000 pregnancies.
She was due to have a C section at 33 weeks but the babies had other ideas and her waters broke at 31 weeks and six days.
The girls were born two minutes apart, with Olivia first, Lia second and Lana third.
Kinga said: “It [the birth] was planned, but not planned so soon. Olivia had a bacterial infection so she was in the unit a bit longer. I was very worried about her at the time. It was very stressful.
“The other two girls were in the other room with the healthy babies.
She said: “They are 10 months now and 7.5kg. They are doing good and their health is good.
“It’s so funny now they are scooting around, they are so fast. They’re very good at night, waking up for a bottle just once at 3am.”
She added: “Lana is very quiet and sensible. Lia is very loud and she wants to be everywhere, she’s very energetic.
“Olivia, she’s a bit bossy. She likes to be in charge.”The triplets’ story features on Born Too Soon on Virgin Media One, which follows families’ journeys at the neonatal unit of CUMH.
Kinga said: “For me the doctors and nurses are heroes, they are wonderful. I never in my life changed a nappy before, I didn’t have anyone with a baby that I could help with.“They were teaching me everything, how to hold them, how to feed them, how to change them, they were all so nice.“They know what they are doing. I knew that my babies were in the best possible hands and I knew that I could trust them.”At 10 months Kinga can still hold all three babies together and recently brought them on their first outing to the beach.
But is she planning on adding to the family?“I think three is enough,” she said. “We are still fitting into the five-seater, any more and we’d need a bus.”
