Chances of having twins are relatively rare. But some women tend to beat the odds by having twins and multiple babies repeatedly.
A good example is for Hariet Auma Ogang, 35 and a resident of Kirowoza village in Mukono district. Auma has two sets of twins with the first set of twins; Faith Apio and Brandon Ocen aged 13 and the second pair, Felicia Akello and Balos Odongo, are aged 7.
In the Langi culture the first twin girl is called Apio and the boy is named Ocen. However, a Auma chose to give the set of twins the names given to those who follow twins; Akello and Odongo for fear of confusing them. Since they are Jehovah’s Witnesses, they plan to baptise the twins once they have turned 13, currently, the children are taking Bible study lessons.
She says taking care of her first set of twins was challenging given that they were born preterm, so she had to express breast milk and feed them through tubes. Luckily the second pair was born at nine months, and since she already had experience of taking care of twins, she did not encounter major challenges.
It is not by surprise that Auma has delivered two sets of twins because relatives from both her mother and father have delivered twins repeatedly
It took Auma six years to become pregnant again for fear of getting yet another set of twins. Incidentally, her fears were confirmed when she conceived twins again.
It is not by surprise that Auma has delivered two sets of twins because relatives from both her mother and father have delivered twins repeatedly
Another, Mariam Nabatanzi Babirye, 41year old-and a resident of Kasenge village in Kasawo sub-country in Mukono Kayunga district has repeatedly delivered twins, triplets and quadruplets, it is the reason that Nabatanzi has earned a nickname of Muzarabana, which means a woman who delivers quadruplets.
Nabatanzi recalls delivering her first set of triplets at the age of 13. Nanatanzi did not know that she was carrying triplets. During the delivery process, her late grandmother, a traditional birth attendant who was helping her to deliver at the time told her there were other two other babies. After delivering the second baby, she was helped to birth the third.
Sadly, one passed, and she remained with two babies.
It did not take long before Nabatanzi delivered another set of quadruplets. Her third pregnancy were triplets and the forth pregnancy was for twins.
Harriet Auma and her two sets of twins
Gynaecologist/fertility expert speak out
Dr Joseph Nsenga a gynaecologist at Bethany Women and Family hospital says women who deliver twins repeatedly are referred to as super fertile in a sense that they have the capacity to release more than one egg in a given cycle.
Nsenga gynaecologist however notes that multiple pregnancy causes a number of health complications to such women as well as their babies, For example, excessive vomiting which sometimes is so severe that they require admission he explains
To guard against conceiving soon, Dr Nsenga advises such women to use of long term contraceptives to enable them space their babies or delay conception for about three years. But also to allow their bodies rejuvenate
Mothers carrying multiple babies are regarded as high risk, and therefore require special attention including attending antenatal care regularly
Understanding twinning
Twinning is a phenomenon where a woman gets multiple pregnancy naturally. Usually the woman has the genetically ability to produce more than one egg every month. It is genetic and runs in the family.
