Matatu Driver, 25-Yr-Old Wife Lose All 5 Babies A Day After Birth
The babies were delivered at seven months and were on life support in incubators.
Marvin Chege 
All the five babies who were born to a youthful Nakuru couple; Simon Ndung'u Kinyanjui, a 28-year-old matatu driver and his 25-year-old wife, Margaret Wairimu, on Tuesday, January 31 have died.
Nakuru Level 5 Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Aisha Maina confirmed to TV47 Digital the news of the babies' passing on Thursday morning, February 2, barely 24 hours after Wairimu gave birth to the quintuplets.
The babies were delivered at seven months and were on life support in incubators. The four girls and one boy weighed between 500 grams and 650 grams at birth.
"At this birth weight, chances of survival are slim since even the internal organs are not fully developed," said the Superintendent.
Margaret Wairimu who delivered Quintuplets at the Margaret Kenyatta Mother and Baby wing of the Nakuru Level 5 Hospital. /THE STAR
"A sad ending. Rest in Peace (RIP) to the five angels," Bahati Member of Parliament (MP) Irene Njoki wrote after visiting the couple at the hospital.
Speaking to the press, Ndung'u revealed that initial ultrasound scans showed that his wife would deliver three children.
"The pre-natal scans indicated that she (Wangui) was expecting three children. It was an ultrasound during her last trimester which revealed the other two," he stated.
"I think the other two babies hid themselves during the ultrasound. Out of the five children, my wife has given birth to four girls and one boy."
Even though the miracle birth to the young parents was met with an outpouring of congratulatory reactions on social media, Ndung'u appealed to well-wishers to provide him with financial support since he has six children and his wife to provide for as the sole breadwinner.
The babies who were all born underweight were incubated at the hospital's Margaret Kenyatta Mother and Baby wing. Confirming the birth of the children was Dr Maina, who stated that she had presented herself to the medical facility on Sunday, January 29.
"She came in through the hospital's outpatient with discomfort and on checking her, the medics realised that she had multiple pregnancies," Maina revealed.
As a result, she was immediately admitted and placed under observation by specialists because she had a high-risk pregnancy. That was until she went into labour and underwent an emergency cesarean section.
Ndung'u expressed his surprise at learning that his wife was expecting the five children. At the time he received the news, he was at work driving to Nairobi.
The father of the quintuplets had only received prior knowledge of the expectancy given that they were planning for a second child.
This is not the first time that a birth of quintuplets was being recorded in Kenya. In April 2021, Douglas Nyaoko and Sellah Nyanchera welcomed five babies at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital.
A report from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2022 released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on Tuesday, January 17 revealed that women between the ages of 20 to 24 have the highest fertility rate in Kenya, a number established after observing the number of births per every 1,000 women in different parts of the nation.
In that age bracket, fertility peaks at 179 births per every 1,000 women. The total fertility rate is higher in the rural areas with 219 births and decreases in the urban areas at 138 births among every 1,000 women.
Following behind is women between the ages of 25 to 28 showing a total of 172 births in every 1,000 women. Of these 200 are in the rural areas while 143 are in the urban populace, a rate that decreases past the age of 28.
Entrance to Nakuru Level 5 Hospital. /FILE
