Matatu Driver Expresses Shock After 25-Yr-Old Wife Delivers 5 Babies

Simon Ndung'u Kinyanjui, a 28-year-old matatu driver based in Nakuru, expressed his surprise after his 25-year-old wife, Margaret Wairimu, gave birth to five babies on Tuesday, January 31.

Wairimu delivered four girls and a boy at the Nakuru Level 5 Hospital after being admitted for three days, in an event that sent tongues wagging across the country.

The babies who were all born underweight are incubated at the hospital's Margaret Kenyatta Mother and Baby wing. Confirming the birth of the children was the hospital's Medical Superintendent, Aisha Maina, who stated that she had presented herself to the medical facility on Sunday, January 29.

Margaret Wairimu who delivered Quintuplets at the Margaret Kenyatta Mother and Baby wing of the Nakuru Level 5 Hospital. /THE STAR

"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.

"The babies were delivered at seven months and have to be incubated for survival," she said, adding that the four girls and one boy weighed between 500 grams and 650 grams.

She said the mother was in a stable condition and would be discharged once the infants attained the right body weight.

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.

“We also have a four-year-old daughter and this was her second pregnancy.

“The news came as a shock but I am happy and I believe there is a reason why God gave these five children to my wife and me,” Ndung’u stated. 

He further 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.

“Am appealing to well-wishers for support. Her most recent scan showed that she was carrying three babies but another two have come along at birth,” said Ndung’u.

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.