Yasing Manasseh had no idea she was giving birth to triplets, when asked why, she said her Wowas Village in the Watut Area of Bulolo, Morobe, does not have an antenatal clinic, and that the nearest clinic is too far.
"I cannot afford the K100 motor ride on a dug-out canoe to Uruf Village. It is difficult to access basic health services, it costs a lot of money just to travel," the mother of now, four, says.
With the help of her family who contributed enough for the motor ride. Yasing left Wawas on Friday June 24th, 2022, and made the trip to Uruf, in the Wampar area of Huon Gulf, where she can be assisted to deliver her baby.
Whilst the labour pains, they traveled, and arrived at Uruf at around 7pm. The first baby was delivered at 8pm inside a village hut.
Village birth attendant, Urints Mathew, said she was surprised that after the first baby was delivered, the mother was still having labour pains.
"I was shocked! I didn't think this would happen. I told myself there is one more baby! I definitely thought they were twins. I held the mother's hand and I told her to be strong. There is nothing much I can do now but to be positive and ensure the mother survives this child birth."
A second baby was delivered at 10pm, Urints was relieved, but the plight of Yasing screaming with pain was excruciating.
"This was my first time delivering triplets, I know that God was with us all along. To my understanding, giving birth to triplets should be at a hospital, and not inside a village hut. It is not safe for the babies and the mother," Urints said.
Eventually, at 2am on Saturday June 25th, 2022, Yasing gave birth to the last baby. Urints was overwhelmed, and Yasing, she was pale and very weak.
"We were lucky that the CHW at Uruf contacted his superiors in Lae, who notified Manolos Aviation Ltd to airlift the mother and babies into Lae. We were flown and taken to Angau Hospital on Saturday (June 25th) morning," Urints said.
Manolos Aviation Ltd CEO Jurgen Ruh said the flight was a precautionary measure for the triplets. "These babies need to be taken to a hospital, because three is too many. They can be underweight, and the mother would need blood, not forgetting all the strength to feed three babies," he said.
Ruh was pleased to be the pilot-in-charge to evacuate the babies, even delaying some flights for his VIPs on that day. "I chose to do such medevacs than flying politicians and candidates during this election period because, we can't bring back a life after five years. Politics bai stap!"
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