The doctor in Sudan told the young mother she was expecting. At least three babies, the doctor said, maybe four.
Adwai Malual, a 28-year-old married bank teller, considered following the doctor's advice and going to Jordan for medical care. But then she thought of her older sister living in Prince George's County and her mother-in-law in Minnesota.
Malual's mother, Anne Abyei, explained yesterday how her daughter decided to head to the United States. The trip would allow Malual to accomplish two goals: get medical care for herself and her unborn children, and meet with her mother-in-law before giving birth, the custom in Sudan.
Malual delivered five babies by Caesarean section Dec. 2 at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, the first birth of quintuplets in the hospital's 106-year history. Four girls and one boy, weighing between 2 pounds, 2 ounces and 2 pounds, 15 ounces, were born between 9:38 a.m. and 9:42 a.m. Malual and her girls, Nyantweny, Nyandeng, Abyei and Athei, and her boy, Deng, are all healthy.
"They're all what we call feeders and growers, warm in their incubators," said Dr. Suzanne Rindfleisch, a neonatalogist who is overseeing the babies' care. "They couldn't be doing any better."
Representatives from the team of 37 doctors and nurses who assisted with Malual's care at the medical center, and the babies' grandmother, Abyei, described Malual's journey from Sudan's capital to Maryland's capital.
Malual, who has been released from the hospital but is still recovering and focusing her energies on her babies, did not speak to reporters. Her husband, Erjok Geu, works in Tanzania as a military liaison for the Sudanese government and hopes to come to Maryland to meet his babies soon.
"When Adwai learned about her pregnancy, she had feeling of great joy and also of great worry and confusion about how this would become a reality," said Abyei, 54, who came from Sudan to help her daughter. "The gynecologist in Sudan said she didn't know how one could have more than three babies in the Sudan with our limited medical facilities."
Upon her arrival in Maryland, Malual fell ill and was rushed to an emergency room.
"With no medical insurance, it was difficult," Abyei said. "Her sister tirelessly went around" looking for a doctor to treat Malual. "Through a friend, she got in touch with Dr. [William] Sweeney, who was more than willing to see her. Through Dr. Sweeney, were able to come to Anne Arundel Medical Center."
