Born at barely 24 weeks, 520 gm baby beat odds to survive


Born at barely 24 weeks, 520 gm baby beat odds to survive

Baby Maya’s tale of survival is an extraordinary one. The micro-preemie, who was born prematurely at just 24 weeks of gestation [ Five and half months] and weighed only 520 grams , fought for three-and-half months to survive a stormy course in the neonatal ICU of Jivanta Children’s Hospital , Udaipur - Smallest ever survived in Rajasthan.

 
  Born at barely 24 weeks, 520 gm baby beat odds to survive

Baby Maya’s tale of survival is an extraordinary one. The micro-preemie, who was born prematurely at just 24 weeks of gestation [ Five and half months] and weighed only 520 grams , fought for three-and-half months to survive a stormy course in the neonatal ICU of Jivanta Children’s Hospital , Udaipur – Smallest ever survived in Rajasthan.

Born to couple Maya  and Dev Singh [ name changed] from Narnaul , Haryana married for 18  years. She started premature labour pains and leaking of  amniotic fluid at 24 weeks of her pregnancy.  The  ultrasonography revealed nearly absent amniotic fluid. Couple rushed to Udaipur and  as the survival of baby was getting compromised was taken up for emergency caesarean section.   Twin babies  were born  weighing just 520 grams and 480gms at birth on  29th May. These babies were very precious and the only hope for the family .The baby required artificial breathing support to regularize her breathing and then  quickly transferred to Jivanta neonatal ICU. However 480 gram baby detected to have major brain hemorrhage shortly after birth, treatment was discontinued on parents consent.

 “To salvage baby of this size is mammoth task and big challenge . At the best of centres, only 30% of such babies born this early survive. Most doctors do not even attempt to save such babies, as the possibility of healthy survival is  low.” Said Dr S K Tak.

 “There is no documented record of survival of baby born so early and weighing this low in Rajasthan. Last reported smallest baby survived in Rajasthan was Baby Geeta (607 gm and born at 27 weeks) @ Jivanta children Hospital.” Said Dr R K Agrawal.

Dr Pradeep Suryawanshi 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 of baby. 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 & only 5-10% survive without brain damage.”

The baby was managed & looked after at Jivanta Neonatal ICU under precise care of Neonatologist Dr. Sunil Janged, Dr. Nikhilesh Nain & trained nursing staff. At beginning baby was struggling to breathe , so was put on ventilator & given surfactant to expand  tiny immature lungs. Baby was having infection in blood, his haemoglobin level was very low at birth which required blood transfusions. His heart functions and pumping was poor . Baby also had large connection between two major vessels [ patent ductus arteriosus], which was closed with medicines. His gut was immature & he could not be fed, so baby was put on TPN which means giving all essential nutrients such as protein, carbohydrate by blood. To get Venous access umbilical lines were put. Such babies losses water very quickly through their parchment like skin & their weight drops down further. 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.  Due to brain immaturity baby used to forget to breathe , we call it as apnea of prematurity. Baby required ventilatory support  for 70 days.

In all he was in NICU for  102 days, today he is being discharged, on discharge his weight is 1.710 Kg  . By far his progress in NICU is satisfactory, Brain is structurally normal, eyes are developing normally.

It was 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 2 years Jivanta has successfully treated more than 75 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.

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