Latest: Titilia Delana Naisaramaki’s four daughters, born on April 22, 2024, are marking their second birthday this month after a precarious start that saw the identical quadruplets cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at CWM Hospital in Suva. Each baby arrived prematurely and weighed between 2.1 kilograms and 1.6 kilograms — weights the hospital recorded and which family members say were classified by staff as very low birth weight — prompting intensive monitoring and specialist care in the days after delivery.
The pregnancy itself was only identified as a quadruplet gestation at about five months, when a routine scan at Nausori Health Centre revealed there were four babies. The surprise prompted referral to CWM Hospital and a swift escalation of care after Titilia developed high blood pressure during a subsequent clinic visit around Easter 2024. Doctors decided she needed an early caesarean and, in the early hours of April 22, a large medical team delivered four girls who were immediately transferred to the NICU while Titilia recovered from surgery and management of her blood pressure.
Titilia said she did not meet her daughters until two to three days after the operation; the babies were labelled Q1 to Q4 in the unit as staff stabilised them. The girls’ father visited first while Titilia remained under observation. In the weeks after discharge, the family established a tight feeding and care routine — daily breastmilk visits to the unit, transition to bottle-feeding after three to four days, and later a switch to commercial formula. Financial pressure shaped some choices: by six months the family had moved to Rewa powdered milk because branded lactogen became too expensive, and they planned household budgets around buying up to ten packets of powdered milk a week and two large packets of nappies per pay cycle.
Support from the community proved decisive. While in hospital Titilia met Jo Carter, a member of a women’s visitors’ group; their friendship grew into ongoing practical support. Jo Carter, her family and friends, along with several community sponsors, donated essentials such as bottled water, nappies and food and helped with everyday expenses. Titilia said the assistance “was a turning point” that helped the family manage the costs of raising four infants at once.
Learning to tell the girls apart was another early challenge. Titilia and relatives used simple measures — colourful hair ties on wrists and labels while in the hospital — until the girls’ individual features became clearer. Both parents have described the quadruplets as developing “their own rhythm” but maintaining a close bond as identical sisters, a rare occurrence for both families.
Now at two, the quadruplets are at home in Vaturua Village, Nakelo, Tailevu, where relatives continue to help with childcare. Medical follow-ups and careful budgeting remain part of daily life for Titilia and her husband, but the family says the combination of clinical care during those first critical weeks and the practical support from people like Jo Carter made the difference between crisis and the quieter routine they have now.