Quads celebrate a first

IT was a bit like the Second Coming, and in a way it was.

The return yesterday of the Murphy quads for their first birthday celebrations to the place of their birth was a momentous occasion for parents, bewildered babies and nursing staff.

Amid much fanfare and brouhaha, Kelly, Katie, Shannon and Amy, little angel delights in pink and cream, were carried into Cork’s Erinville Maternity Hospital.

Awaiting them in the dining room was a splendid cake sculpture of Barbies and strawberries and loads of welcoming staff delighted to see them so well.

After all, their safe arrival into the world had been no mean feat in itself. It had taken a 45-strong team of doctors and midwives to deliver the 13-week premature girls and 10 weeks follow-up nursing in the neonatal intensive care unit.

But if the staff thought they were under pressure, imagine the demands on the quads’ mother Brenda with four babies to breastfeed.

When Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, John Higgins, said the experience had been great for the hospital and that they hoped for more quads, Brenda’s tongue-in-cheek reply was: “I’ll see what I can do.”

Not that she has to cope on her own - her husband Patrick helps out at their home near Carrigaline and up to last week, they had nursing staff on hand from Nurse On Call.

But the couple’s year’s grace is up and nurses will no longer be supplied free of charge by the Southern Health Board, the host of yesterday’s celebrations.

“We’re looking at paying euro €100-150 a night for overnight nursing cover from now on. The girls still wake during the night for a feed, so that’s four feeds to be done. Over Christmas, we did a lot of nights ourselves and we are fairly knackered after it,” said Patrick.

Unlikely to add further to their family (there is also three-year-old Cian), the Murphys definitely have no regrets.

“It’s hard work and even a year down the line, we still don’t know what to expect, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. A bit more of a social life would be nice, but I’m happy if I can get out even once a month,” said Brenda.

And lucky at that. With roughly seven nappy-changes per day per baby, six feeds and two bottles each and four boxes of baby-wipes per week, it’s a wonder they have either the time or the inclination to go out at all.