Abu Dhabi: Weighing a mere half a kilo at birth, Nesma had a less than 10 per cent chance of survival.
She had been delivered at just 23 weeks of gestation, and could not breathe or feed on her own. But after two previous miscarriages, Samah Nazzal believed that her miracle baby would grow into a healthy, normal child.
“We had Nesma after so much heartbreak. And even though she was tiny and helpless, I believed fully that God intended for her to live, and that her father and I would do anything to keep her alive,” Nazzal, 39, a university professor from Jordan, told Gulf News.
It was the couple’s faith, with a little help from an experienced team of neonatal doctors, which saw Nesma discharged from the hospital in February. Today, she is a healthy 10 month old, and the biggest joy for her parents, Nazzal and her husband, Shahzad Akhtar Rao, an electrical engineer from Pakistan.
But her journey so far did not come easy. Nesma was conceived after Nazzal had lost two babies.
“Both of my previous pregnancies, in 2012 and 2014, had been achieved through in vitro fertilisation, but before I could reach the end of the first term, the doctors simply could not find a heartbeat. It was heartbreaking, and my husband and I had decided we would not try again,” Nazzal remembers.
But a bout of dizziness she experienced in late 2014 seemed unusual to Nazzal, and she thought it could be a spontaneous pregnancy.
“The doctors thought it was the effect of hypertension and prescribed a lot of strong medication. For some reason, I simply did not feel like taking them. And a simple home pregnancy test revealed that I was pregnant,” Nazzal said.
The next five months or so were mostly exhausting for Nazzal, but she continued with the pressures of work and looked forward to the delivery. But suddenly, in the 22nd week of pregnancy, Nazzal underwent silent dilation, a condition in which the cervix opens.
“The doctors told me I was hypertensive and that I was going to miscarry, so I had no choice but to let the foetus descend. But I was determined, and I stayed lying down for nearly a week to prevent the downward pressure. The longer my baby stayed in my womb, the better for her, I felt,” Nazzal said.
Eventually though, when the baby was nearly 24 weeks, her waters broke and Nazzal went into labour at Corniche Hospital.
“Seeing my state, the doctors told me they would try to keep me alive if they detected even a single sign of life, such as breathing and crying. I was distraught because I didn’t see any when Nesma was taken out, but the doctor pointed out a small kitten-like whimper. She was crying, and I was elated,” Nazzal said.
The newborn, one sixth the average weight of a newborn baby girl in the UAE, was immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit. For the next three months, she had a tube inserted in her throat to help with breathing and nutrition. Nesma also needed constant oxygen, and also developed a life-threatening infection.
“I have never prayed in my life as much as I prayed for my daughter in those early days,” Nazzal said.
Slowly, the newborn gained weight and was moved to the special care unit. The doctors told the parents that she now had to learn to feed and to breathe on her own. It was another five months before Nesma could do this, however, and her parents continued to make daily trips to see her at the hospital.
“We would talk to Nesma every day, and tell her that she could survive without the oxygen tubes. We kept telling her, and she eventually ‘believed’ us,” the mother said.
Finally, at eight months of age, weighing nearly six kilograms, Nazzal was allowed to take her precious daughter home. Today, she is growing normally, and her parents take her for regular physiotherapy sessions to aid her development.
“Because she was developed pre-term, her corrected age is six months now. But I have full faith that she will grow into a healthy toddler,” her mother said.
The baby’s name is, however, a reminder of her journey so far.
“Her grandmother selected the name, Nesma, which means a light dawn breeze. None of us liked it. But when she was born weighing half a kilogram, we could think only that she truly is ‘Nesma’,” Nazzal said.
Medical opinion
Nesma’s case truly is one of miraculous survival, as babies born at her weight and stage of gestation have up to a 15 per cent chance of survival only, her doctor told Gulf News.
Rakesh Sharma, consultant neonatologist at Abu Dhabi’s premier Corniche Hospital, explained that babies’ lungs, intestine and brain are still very underdeveloped at this stage.
“Even providing them with nutrition through intravenous tubes is a challenge because their blood vessels are thread-like,” he said.
Such babies also lose heat quickly, and must therefore be kept at just the right temperature with the perfect amount of oxygen. Their eyes also need to be closely monitored.
“We provided the best care we could, and are delighted to note that she is now a healthy, growing baby,” Sharma said.
