Dubai: A Filipino-Indian couple’s happy countdown to the birth of twins has turned into an ordeal.
Dubai-based Andrea Riveria said she was not due until November, but ended up delivering her twin boys Aadi and Arnav on August 2, 10 weeks in advance.
She said the boys needed to be incubated for two months as they were born prematurely at 26 weeks. “But we are in a desperate situation as the mounting hospital bill with each passing day has gone way beyond our reach.”
Andrea said she and her Indian husband Gaurav Rawat were shocked by the unexpected turn of events. Everything was going well until August 1 when she had to be rushed to the private Mediclinic City Hospital after she started bleeding. “I was suffering from acute abdominal pain and my cervix opened by about 4cm. The pain became unbearable by the next morning and I delivered the babies prematurely,” she said.
She said the babies weighing 820g and 880g were in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) of the private hospital for 10 days at the end of which they ran up a bill of over Dh200,000. “I would not have delivered in the private hospital had it not been an emergency case. Last Sunday, we managed to get an approval from Dubai Hospital for the twins’ transfer but we still need a minimum of Dh400,000 to keep them incubated for eight to 10 weeks as their organs are not fully developed,” she said.
Andrea said: “Aadi and Arnav are our first babies. My husband and I have around Dh100,000 left with us from our combined insurance after the settlement of the hospital bill. But we do not know how we will manage the rest.”
“We desperately need help. Please help us pay our dues and take our boys home,” she said.
If you wish to help the couple write to editor@xpress4me.com
