Newborns welcomed at PoS and Mt Hope

SARAH SOOKDEO was the first to give birth at the Port of Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) on Mother’s Day this year. The 27-year-old delivered a girl, Caylee Hughs, at 3.21 am. Weighing 7.41 pounds, Caylee demonstrated how healthy her lungs are by crying briefly during the media’s interview with her mom.

A smiling Sookdeo told reporters she’s ready to call it quits in the pregnancy department.

“I don’t want anymore after this. Caylee is my third child. My other two are also girls.”

Sharing her thoughts on having the distinction of giving birth on Mother’s Day, Sookdeo said, “It feels really nice but I’m not accustomed to the (media) attention, so it’s a little bit much.”

Describing her experience and the staff at the Maternity Department as “nice”, Sookdeo said she was looking forward to getting some rest while waiting to be discharged.

As of 10 am yesterday, there were two babies born at the PoSGH. Shareese Springer delivered her son via Caesarean section at 7.28 am. The baby weighed 7.82 pounds.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh presented both mothers with hampers.

Before he left to visit the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital where three other women had also given birth, the minister checked out several completed projects at the PoSGH.

Chief among them, a room equipped with four recliners for use in the Kangaroo Mother Care initiative. The recliners, fitted with adjustable headrests, are designed to provide maximum comfort for mothers/fathers while they engage in skin-to-skin bonding care with their baby – often a premature baby or one with health issues which require the baby to remain in hospital.

Rhuan Davidson-Cassar demonstrated how the Kangaroo chair works during the media’s visit, holding her eight-day-old baby girl, Annaliese Cassar, while neonatologist and chairman of the hospital’s neonatal committee, Dr Marlon Timothy, explained the benefits of Kangaroo care.

“This started in very poor countries where, unfortunately, they did not have incubators and monitors to take care of premature babies. So mothers were told to put their babies into their bosom and wrap them up in a blanket. Doctors and nurses noted that when this done, the babies actually did much, much better – they had lower oxygen requirements, they thrived better.

“We can actually continue monitoring the baby while it’s spending time with the mother, skin-to-skin – the monitors remain attached to baby. It’s actually a very, very simple initiative but it means so much to the baby’s care and well-being,” Timothy said. At Mt Hope, the Health Minister was very happy to hear that Kyle Cassimy was present for the birth of his daughter.

“Oh, excellent! Glad to hear that,” Deyalsingh said with a big smile, as Cassimy told him, “I was there to witness the birth and it was one of the best experiences I could ever have as a father.

Kadeija Noel gave birth to Cassimy’s daughter, Kallia, at 4 am. She weighed seven pounds, ten ounces and is Cassimy’s second child – he has a two-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Standing next to her daughter and Deyalsingh, Noel said, “It feels like a gift I’ll never get again” to have given birth on Mother’s Day.

Almost an hour and a half after baby Cassimy was born, Jankie Layne delivered a boy – weighing six pounds, two ounces – at 5.22 am. Then at 6.52 am, Amrika Ragbir gave birth to a girl weighing six pounds, eight ounces.