Triple the Joy

PIH Health Helps Guam Couple with High-Risk Pregnancy Deliver Triplets

Triple the Joy

The Gamboa family is now happily back in Guam—thankful for the PIH Health team that helped bring their dream to reality. 

Being pregnant with triplets is already considered a high-risk situation, but the limited prenatal care available in Guam left Lucy and Francine “Kai” Gamboa even more concerned about the safe birth of their babies.

The couple always wanted a large family, and with two children already, Lucy and Kai knew they wanted another baby. After having intrauterine insemination (IUI) in August 2022, Lucy and Kai were overjoyed when she learned that they had conceived triplets.

“We could hardly believe we were hearing three heartbeats at our first ultrasound,” said Lucy. “Becoming a family of seven sounded just perfect to us; but we knew Guam couldn’t provide the advanced medical care we needed for our high-risk pregnancy.”

Thanks to the International Patient Services Program at PIH Health, Mark Dwight MD, OB/GYN at PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, agreed to help the Gamboa’s deliver their babies in Los Angeles.

“A high-risk pregnancy can be life-threatening, both to the mother and the babies,” says Dr. Dwight. “We accepted the Gamboa’s case so that the family would have access to advanced technologies, specialized care and the best possible outcome.”

In January 2023, Lucy and Kai embarked on a 6,000-mile journey from Guam to PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where their triplets would be born. Due to preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder, Lucy was induced at 32 weeks and delivered Kaiyle, Kaiveah and Kaileah on March 20, 2023 by cesarean section.

The babies were born only one minute apart, each about four pounds and with under-developed lungs.

“Not all premature babies end up in the NICU, but those born with low birth weight and breathing difficulties, like the Gamboa triplets, require extra medical attention,” says Rowena Cayabyab MD, PIH Health neonatologist.

The triplets stayed in the hospital’s world-class neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for four weeks while they gained weight and received specialized respiratory support.

By the end of April 2023, the triplets were released from the NICU and the entire family is now happily back at home in Guam – thankful for the PIH Health team that helped bring their dream to reality.