Dubai: The parents of a premature baby who weighed less than an iPad at birth have paid an emotional tribute to the medical team which performed a “miracle” to keep their son alive.
Filipina expatriate Susie, wife of Christopher Sacramento, a digital sales specialist, delivered Nicholas on October 4, around 14 weeks prematurely at Zulekha Hospital.
Susie delivered in her 23rd week of pregnancy, and the baby weighed just 530 grams. The premature baby, who weighed less than an iPad, spent four months at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit before finally going home.
“You have a great team, a team you can trust and consider a family. Not all patients see your team at the NICU pray for all the babies, but we see them do it every day. They have the passion for their duties and responsibilities but, most of all, they have the heart, they share the same pain, they share their happiness, they share their love,” said the Sacramentos in their letter to Dr Zulekha Daud, chairperson of Zulekha Hospitals.
Consultant neonatologist Dr Monika Kaushal, one of the doctors treating the baby, classed Nicholas under a new group of babies known as micro-preemies, because he was born weighing under 900 grams.
“The chance of survival and normal development for a 23-week preterm infant is normally very bleak and Nicholas’ survival was due to there being no damage to brain, lungs or eyes,” she said.
After 110 days of nurturing at the hospital, Nicholas, weighing a much healthier 1.9kg, was able to go home with his parents.
