Rida Viljoen never dreamed of being a mom, as other girls do. The chances of her ever falling pregnant were diminishingly small, because she had been born with the genetic disorder, cystic fibrosis (CF).
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This disease affects the lungs and the digestive system, causing inflammation and clogging with thick, sticky mucus which makes it hard to breathe.
Not so long ago, the prognosis for CF patients was poor - most of them died in their teens. But today, with advanced medical care, that prognosis has changed, and Rida was just glad to be one of the CF babies who had benefited from a much improved life expectancy.
Rida falls pregnant with twins
And then she fell pregnant. With twins. Naturally. Which came as a shock all round.
While men with CF are almost always infertile, women can and do fall pregnant.
However, conception is more difficult for them, since the cervical mucus is thicker, making it hard for sperm to negotiate the road to the egg.
But while more and more women round the world are successfully conceiving and bearing children, this was the first known set of twins who had been conceived naturally in a CF woman, anywhere.
Calling in the big guns
When the pregnancy was discovered, the Johannesburg General Hospital called in Dr Haroun Rhemtula, who had clocked up many miles of experience with patients who had heart and lung difficulties.
“My interest is in medical disorders in obstetrics, and I had looked after cystic fibrosis girls before,” he explained. He became part of the Johannesburg General team who treated the Mom and handled the delivery of the babies even though his home base is Netcare’s Linksfield Hospital.
Rida’s pregnancy went well, under careful monitoring by Dr Rhemtula and the team, but in her last trimester, he began to be concerned.
“Her blood pressure was up, the babies weren’t growing as well any more, and, most important, her lung function had decreased,” he says. “I decided it was time to bale out, and we booked her in for a Caesarian section.”
Birth of twins a success
Two little fraternal twins, Larice and Montie, were born happy and healthy by Caesarian section at a respectable 36 weeks on 16 June this year.
The birth weight of Montie was 2.47 kilograms and Larice, who was born first, weighed 2.18 kilograms.
Risk of babies having CF
Well, they are carriers of the gene, explains Dr Rhemtula, but they will not experience any of the consequences themselves.
When they grow up, they will probably opt for genetic counselling before embarking on babies themselves, as they will have a CF baby if their partner is a CF gene carrier too.
But in every other way, they have as good a chance at a long, healthy life as any of us.
More about Cystic Fibrosis
CF is usually diagnosed in babies before they reach the age of two; it occurs in about one in 3 000 live births among white people of Northern and Central European origin, and about one in 17 000 live births in black people.
In South Africa, 1 in 20 white individuals, 1 in 55 coloured individuals and 1 in 34 black individuals are carriers of a mutation in the gene that causes the disease.
CF is a life-threatening disease that basically causes a build up of mucus in the lungs, the pancreas and other organs.
Clogging of the pancreas prevents the creation of digestive enzymes, which means that children with CF don’t digest food properly and fail to thrive (administering digestive enzymes every day, usually several times a day, is the treatment of choice for this problem).
Clogging of the lungs makes it hard to breathe and increases the chances of bacterial infection.
Antibiotics are used to clear infections, inhalants improve breathing, and physiotherapy is used to move mucus out of the airways.
For more information, phone the Cystic Fibrosis Trust at 011-488-3496, or the South African Cystic Fibrosis Association at 021-557-0323 or 011-294-3849.
Source: Netcare Linksfield Hospital.
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