Vishnu and Akshaya Nair are now the proud parents of the first set of triplets to be born at Waikato Hospital. Photo / Supplied
Vishnu and Akshaya Nair are now the proud parents of the first set of triplets to be born at Waikato Hospital. Photo / Supplied
Vishnu Nair is the proud father of triplets - but he's only seen the trio twice in the 10 days since they were born prematurely.
It's not the way the new Hamilton dad expected the experience to go but due to lockdown restrictions only one person is allowed in to see them a day and that has largely been their mother, Akshaya.
The Nairs were introduced in 2016 before getting married a year later.
They lived a little, travelled, bought a house 18 months ago, then decided in late September last year to have a baby. A month later, they found out they were pregnant. Not with one child, but three.
It was shock that spread around the wider family as there was no history of twins or multiple births in either family.
"It is completely out of the blue. There's no history at all," Nair said.
Ishan Nair and identical twin sisters Janaki and Bhanavi were delivered via C-section on May 1. Photo / Supplied
Doctors did have concerns about Akshaya going full term with triplets, due to her slight frame, he said.
"She was 43kg before she got pregnant, so the doctors were very worried that she wouldn't be able to go more than 30 weeks of pregnancy with triplets."
When she reached 31 weeks, Waikato Hospital staff advised her to stay there so they could monitor her until her scheduled C-section at 34 weeks, or on May 1.
She managed to go the full 34 weeks without a problem.
The only difficulty was lockdown. Given the imminent arrival of triplets, the couple had to travel to Auckland Hospital for regular scans until she reached 31 weeks.
Lockdown meant Akshaya had to go to many appointments by herself.
Akshaya was now doing well and was discharged from hospital on Sunday.
Now she continues to make daily visits to Waikato Hospital's Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
"Hospital staff gave her all the support and good stuff and it's all worked out."
Asked how long the babies were expected to stay there, Nair said it was likely until their proper due date of June 10.
When family were told of the news, Akshaya's mother flew over from India and is in the country until September.
Vishnu's parents were due to arrive this month. However, due to the worldwide lockdown, that hasn't happened and was unlikely to happen for quite some time.
In the meantime, they were keeping them up-to-date with regular video calls, he said.
He had also only seen his children twice since they arrived into the world.
The babies remained healthy in the hospital's NICU, with Akshaya making daily trips there for skin to skin contact and to attempt breastfeeding.
"They want to keep the babies until that due date. They want to make sure that they are growing well and don't have any issues," Vishnu said.
He'd been told by Waikato Hospital staff that their babies were the first triplets to be born this year.
It was also rare for two of the babies to be born identical twins, he said.
As for being prepared for the arrival of three tiny humans in their Hamilton home, they'd managed to get a few things from Farmers but otherwise had nothing.
Akshaya Nair while pregnant with her triplets. Photo / Supplied
He has an appointment with the Baby Factory on Thursday to buy much-needed supplies, including cots.
A Waikato DHB spokeswoman confirmed the couple's triplets were the first of the year to be born.
They were also born dichorionic triamniotic (DCTA) triplets, where they were born in two sacks and three placentas. About a third of triplet pregnancies were born that way.
