Triplets, a challenge for young mother [1]
Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - 15:49. Updated on Tuesday, July 21, 2015 - 10:13.
Mele Fakapulia (29) of Ha'ateiho gave birth to triplets - three healthy girls - on Tuesday, June 12.
As a second time mother she said that her pregnancy with her triplets was really difficult because she was physically and emotionally unprepared for such a challenge.
"Even when I gave birth it was so difficult that I had a caesarean."
Now a healthy mother of a one-year-old son and triplet daughters she is looking forward to taking her babies home.
Mele's husband earns their living by working as a deck hand on one of the ferries that brings in gas to the country.
She knows that there will be a lot of financial constraints on her young family with having three small babies but she feels nonetheless blessed that they have come into her life.
The babies are still kept in incubators but they are doing well and will be released from hospital once they reach the normal weight of a newborn.
The Fakapulia triplets are the first set of triplets to be born in Tonga this year.