California couple Chantal Grant and Arif Ali could not contain their glee yesterday at becoming the proud parents of this country’s first triplets for 2014. Yesterday Grant, 19, of Railway Road, Dow Village, delivered two baby boys and a girl at 9 am at the San Fernando General Hospital via Caesarian section. The babies, named Zafir, Zamir and Zareefa, were delivered a month early. They weighted 1.94 kg, 1.77 kg and 1.82 kg respectively. They are said to be doing well and are breathing on their own.
Grant, speaking with the T&T Guardian from her hospital bed yesterday, said she was grateful for her precious miracles, all of whom were delivered complication-free. “I am really happy,” she said, smiling. She said the babies were particularly special to her because she had been trying to get pregnant since early last year. Doctors told her she had cysts in her ovaries and she would have to go on medication. She said she told them she wanted to have children and was given fertility drugs.
“I took the pills and when they did the ultrasound they said I had one fully developed egg and two small ones. When I went back they tell me I was pregnant,” she said. Grant admitted she was not expecting triplets when the doctors told her she was pregnant but was thrilled when she got the news. “In the beginning when I take the ultrasound, after three months, they say it was triplets. I had to accept it. I had no choice. It was shocking, I cried and thing. I was not crying because I was sad or was vex or anything, I was just really happy.”
Excited father, Arif Ali, 24, said he was pleasantly surprised when he was handed two sons and a daughter yesterday morning, since he was expecting two daughters and a son. Ali had even presented his wife with two “it’s a girl” balloons and one “it’s a boy” balloon. “I was shocked this morning when they bring them out and tell me it is two boys and one girl but I was more happy when they said everything okay with them and they really healthy and they normal.
“I feel really proud and happy to know it is three of them because I thought it was one and it was one we were prepared for. Then we happen to get three, I was happy to get them,” he said. Grant said she was in some pain but it was worth it. However, she was quick to add: “I do not want any more, that’s it. No more babies for me, no more.” Ali agreed. He said he had always wanted two children, a boy and a girl, “one at a time.”
“I didn’t know it would have come all in one. It was three one time. So we had to go with the flow, we just happy about it,” he said, laughing.