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Extraordinary tale of a premature baby born to a COVID positive mother, beating all odds to survive

Born to a COVID positive mother, at barely 30 weeks, this premature baby beat all odds to survive at Jivanta Children’s Hospital, Udaipur
By UdaipurTimes Team Updated: Apr 29, 2021, 22:18 IST
Extraordinary tale of a premature baby born to a COVID positive mother, beating all odds to survive

Baby Maya’s tale of survival is an extraordinary one. The preemie, who was born to Covid positive mother, prematurely at just 30 weeks of gestation [seven and half months] and weighed only 1400 grams, fought for 24 days to survive a stormy course in the neonatal ICU of Jivanta Children’s Hospital , Udaipur.

Maya  and Dev Singh [ name changed] from Udaipur, married since 18  years were very happy to welcome their baby. Unfortunately, the whole family tested COVID positive. Everyone was worried about the mother and baby.  The mother developed premature labour pains and leaking of  amniotic fluid at 30 weeks of her pregnancy. The ultrasonography revealed nearly absent amniotic fluid. The couple was rushed to private hospitals, but nobody was ready to deliver baby.

The Mother started with high grade fever and complained of difficulty in breathing and was admitted at COVID ESIC Hospital, Udaipur on 2 April.  The survival of the baby was getting compromised the case was taken up for emergency caesarean section. A Male baby, weighing 1400 grams was born to the couple. This was very precious and the only hope for the family. This baby was then immediately transferred to Jivanta Neonatal ICU for further care.

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“We got a call from the patient’s father that mother is COVID positive and the premature baby needs NICU care and requested to shift the baby to Jivanta Hospital.  To salvage the baby of a COVID positive mother and that too premature, is mammoth task and big challenge before our team as such kind of babies can not be admitted in routine NICU where other babies can get infected with COVID-19. Our team accepted it and made necessary arrangements as per COVID protocol. We prepared one isolation NICU with separate entry and exit, incubator, ventilator, monitors, etc.” - Dr Sunil Janged, Chief Neonatologist, Jivanta Hospital.

Dr Nikhilesh Nain added, “Baby born this small have extremely poor function of all body organs include lungs, heart, brain, kidney, skin, intestine & all of them need support for survival. This is where skilled & dedicated  Neonatologist & Nursing staff is required, as the margin of error is close to zero. Problems related to any single system can singularly kill the baby.”

The baby was managed & looked after at Jivanta Neonatal ICU under precise care of Neonatologist Dr. Sunil Janged, Dr. Nikhilesh Nain, Dr Vinod, Dr Amit & trained nursing staff. Initially, the baby was struggling to breathe, so was put on respiratory support. His gut was immature & he could not be fed, hence was put on TPN, which means giving all essential nutrients such as protein, carbohydrate by blood. These are some of many problems one faces while managing such babies. Regular screening of heart & brain were performed to rule out any bleeding in brain. Baby required ventilatory support  for 15 days.

In all, the baby was in NICU for 22 days, and was finally discharged on 28 April as a healthy 1.6 Kg baby. By far his progress in NICU was found to be satisfactory, Brain is structurally normal, eyes are developing normally.

"During this Corona pandemic crisis this little fighter gives us a moral boost. It was a long & tough journey for me & my team , It is the latest technology, high end expertise of our NICU team, which has pulled this off. In last 6 years Jivanta has successfully treated more than 125 extreme premature babies weighing less than 1000 grams and   having more than 90% survival of extremely low birth babies” said Dr. Sunil Janged , Chief Neonatologist at Jivanta Children Hospital.