Miraculous birth of a 27-week baby girl at Max Hospital Mohali
KS Diwan/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
Doctors at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Mohali left no stone unturned to facilitate the miraculous birth of a 27-week baby girl. The baby girl, who weighed 550-gram at birth, fought all odds and retuned back to a normal healthy life. Welcoming their recovered and beautiful baby back to their lives, the baby’s parents, Baljeet and her husband are overwhelmed with joy.
The happiness of becoming parents after their 5-year long marriage was ruined after the mother was diagnosed with hypertension leading to various complications for herself and the baby. Speaking about this difficult but incredible journey, Baljeet, mother of the baby girl says, “The thought of not getting to experience this beautiful moment haunted me for days. I feel ecstatic and more than that complete, now that I am holding my baby in my arms safe and sound.”
Talking about the complicated case, Dr. Manu Sharma, Consultant Paediatrics and Neonatology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Mohali says, “The struggle was long and never ending and the chances of baby’s survival were minimal. The baby had to be ventilated and kept in incubator in NICU for 3-months. The child was suffering from various complications including immaturity of lungs (HMD), hole in heart (PDA), infection (neonatal sepsis), shock and nutrition. The child required surfactant treatment for maturation of lungs, treatment for severe infection, abnormally low blood pressure and hole in heart. She was given optional nutrition optimally.”
Adding to that, Dr. Manu says, “We saw a ray of hope when the baby gradually started to improve with tolerance of feed and kangaroo mother care, maintained. At the time of discharge from Max Hospital, the baby was weighed around 1,350-gram and on full feed. The baby was neurologically normal, accepting spoon feeds well, and her hearing and vision was normal. Most premature babies succumb to infection or sepsis during their long ICU stay, which occurs primarily because of lack of proper hand hygiene, use of unsterile equipment and inadequate NICU cleaning practices. However, such babies need long-term follow up for their growth and neurodevelopmental assessment. And they usually need periodical check-ups till the age of 3-5 years, asserted Dr Sharma.”
“Premature babies this small need medical support for survival and the failure of any one system might even lead to death. The babies this small have less than 0.5 % chance of survival without brain damage. The biggest challenge for our team was to prevent any infection to the baby and our team managed it very well.” says, Sandeep Dogra senior vice president and zonal head, Max Hospitals, Punjab.
Babies born between 22-27 weeks of pregnancy are considered as babies born with restrictive viability, as they may not exist independent of the mother prior to this. But with advance technology and medical care, such micro preemies babies can be saved, with a normal neurological outcome. Both the mother and the baby are recovering well and have gone back to their normal daily routine.