Dubai: The life of a premature baby weighing just 650g at birth and born in the fifth month of pregnancy has miraculously been saved.
Nearly 69 days after her birth, Baby Princess who now weighs 2.06kg is ready to go home with her parents, Mariel and Eduardo Abarque.
What’s more, the Dh450,000 expenses incurred have been shared by the insurance provider, the hospital and Al Tayer Motors where Eduardo works as a salesman.
Diligent teamwork, high standards at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Prime Hospital, Dubai and good fortune have played vital roles in saving the life of Baby Princess, according to Dr Shahid Gauhar, Chair Paediatric and Neonatology at Prime Hospital.
“The mother of the baby was a patient at one of our clinics and she came for a routine checkup at five months and eight days into her pregnancy when the doctor attending on her discovered the amniotic sac was bulging and the patient was in complete labour. We had no choice but to admit her at the hospital and assist her to deliver the child on January 8, 2015,” Dr Gauhar told Gulf News.
Worldwide, the mortality rate of any child born in the second trimester of pregnancy is very high. “The minimum gestational age at which a baby can survive has been set at 23 weeks. This baby was 24 weeks and although such premature babies do stand a chance, the rate of survival is very low,” said Dr Gauhar.
Of course, baby Princess turned out to be a great fighter, who gave as much as she could of her short gasps of baby breath. “When she was born her breathing was poor. We had to resuscitate her and keep her on a ventilator and in one of the state-of-the-art incubators that we have at the NICU,” added Dr Gauhar.
The incubator tries to mimic the environment of the womb but simulating that and providing nourishment and establishing independent breathing for such a tiny child was a big challenge for the team.
Sanah Al Hamad, unit in-charge of the NICU at Prime Hospital, said: “The baby was put on ventilator for 10 days, then she was put on CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure – a treatment that uses mild air pressure to keep the airways open) for 26 days and eventually given oxygen through a nasal canula for week before she was able to breathe independently. She was given Total Parental Nutrition (TPN), which is a special mix of carbohydrates, fats and proteins prepared daily according to the nourishment requirements a baby requires, and fed intravenously.”
Normally, establishing such protocols for a baby as premature as Baby Princess is fraught with the danger of contracting infections. But the NICU team took care to follow total aseptic techniques. All this time the baby was being monitored for neurological and motor developments and the team is really amazed at the resilience of Baby Princess who did not contract any kind of infections that could result in any chronic infection in her vital organs or display any developmental delays. “The mother was given access to her baby once the baby was weaned off the ventilator. This is called kangaroo care where a mother is encouraged to bond with their babies,” said Al Hamad.
The weight gain in case of Baby Princess has been steady and now at 2.08 kg she has been declared fit to go home, says the delighted NICU team which lovingly nurtured her. The hospital has given the mother a room for the next three days where she is practising being with her baby and managing things. In a couple of days when the mother feels confident, Baby Princess will be discharged .
“I am delighted with the treatment and care provided to my baby and am thrilled to take my Princess home,” mum Mariel told Gulf News.
