Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
A Bible opened to Psalm 91 and a baby bottle with milk lay on a bed next to four-day-old infants Hope and Miracle as they slept together yesterday. It was all their parents, Ayana Robley and Shaquille McIntosh, could afford to give them as they await the homecoming of their sister Faith who is still at the San Fernando General Hospital.
“She is in the hospital because she was born the smallest. When I went yesterday they said the x-ray and blood count came back well but due to how small she is they want to make sure she has enough fluid so her body can fight whatever sickness might be circulating,” Robley said.
Robley, 32, gave birth to the triplets last Friday. She has five other children who live with her and McIntosh in a humble home at Indian Walk, Princes Town.
She said they do not have money to purchase baby clothes, diapers, baby formula, a crib and other necessities as they have little cash.
The couple supports their family by planting short-term crops which they sell in the village. Robley said she defied doctors’ advice and continued to work on the land well into her pregnancy but eventually had to stop.
McIntosh, who suffers from sciatica, continued working but weather conditions severely affected their crops in recent months and as a result they could not afford to prepare for the infants.
“We had already planned to start buying stuff when we planted. Due to the weather, we did not do that.”
Nurses at the hospital chipped in to purchase a few items for the triplets, but the family needs more help.
“With the babies, the stuff I have is what three of the nurses, who came together, gave me to go upstairs in the labour ward and one or two other clothes that I got from my daughter’s school are big clothes,” Robley said.
Still struggling to move around after undergoing a caesarian section, Robley endured a difficult pregnancy during which her abdomen grew so big she could not fit properly inside a car. She is still in pain and has to visit Faith at hospital to feed her.
It is a precarious trek from the family’s plywood house perched on a hill. The waterlogged bridge leading out of the house sinks as Robley walks across it. She then had to climb up an almost 45-degree incline of oil sand and mud to get to the road which is in dilapidated condition and cannot be accessed by emergency vehicles.
The family’s home is not connected to water or electricity and does not have a proper toilet and bathroom. There is no crib, so they make do with a sofa.
The couple had not planned to have more children. Robley said she went to the Family Planning Association and got contraceptive injections to prevent pregnancy.
Last year, she fell ill in a taxi and the driver took her to the Princes Town Health Facility where a doctor did a pregnancy test and ultrasound and told her she was pregnant with twins. She was then transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital where another ultrasound revealed that she was 19 weeks pregnant with triplets.
Robley was referred to a medical social worker who did a consultation and home visit but eventually told the family there were no funds available and advised them to apply to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Family Services for grants.
Robley, who left a previous relationship five years ago, revealed: “I was in a domestic violence relationship and I ran away. I used to live in Siparia with my children’s father and I went back home and he almost killed me in front of my kids.”
Anyone wishing to help the family can call 281-7803.