Woman gives birth to 5 babies after 10-year wait

A woman lawyer from Kandy, Sri Lanka, gave birth to quintuplets at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, after having received treatment in India for infertility.

It is learnt that the woman had first conceived the babies after 10 years of marriage. Pediatrician Sandya Bandara, who is caring for the babies, said that the woman had in vitro fertilization done in a private hospital and had come in for delivery.

Thanuja Ekanayake, a 36-year-old lawyer has given birth to four boys and a girl in the early morning hours of last week. The babies born within 28 weeks of gestation are said to be in good health.

Her husband is 41-year-old Nimesha Godahenage, a government audio-visual technician.

Dr. Bandara noted that the babies were tiny and weighed between 900 grams to 1.2 kilograms. "Two babies are 900 grams, while two others are 1.2 kilograms and one is 1.1 kilograms," she said.

Hospital sources said that the mother has had a caesarian and is recovering in the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital.

Director of the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, Dr. Jayabandu Herath said that a caesarean section had been performed by a team headed by Specialist Gynaecologist, Dr. Ranaraja.

While the mother was in the surgical ICU, all five babies were in new incubators provided to the hospital by the Health Ministry recently.

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