Yarana (My Children)

Why do I love spending time in the paediatric ward? Because of...

Lydia, Elizabeth, Peter, James, and John!

The nurse laughed at me when I came in on Sunday to visit the incubator babies. The next morning, she asked me in Hausa how my children (yaranki) were. I was confused; did she think I was married and had children? She explained that she'd meant the incubator babies! I laughed and went to check on them. None of them have been named yet, so I've named them all in my head.

Elizabeth and Peter were both 14 weeks premature and are each about 1 lb, 13 oz at two weeks old.

Lydia (upper left) is about 4 lbs and should go home today!

And three-week-old James (3 lbs, 8 oz) and John (4 lbs) share an incubator (upper right). They're two of a set of triplets, one of whom died before he was a week old. Their mom is finally feeding them herself, so they're rapidly gaining weight.

These are my babies, yarana, and they bring me joy!