Pre-term baby girl weighing 375gm and 20cm length thrives

HYDERABAD:In what is being touted as a medical marvel, a newborn girl, who weighed just 375 grams at the time of delivery in a city hospital, has managed to survive and thrive. The premature baby – Cherry — was born at 25 weeks gestation, which is nearly 4 months prior to the expected date, and was discharged with a weight of nearly 2kg last week.
Cherry’s mother Nikita, who hails from Chhattisgarh, had four failed pregnancies before she conceived Cherry in the fifth attempt, which was her only chance to have a baby.
Also Cherry’s case was a particularly complicated one with multiple hurdles, including jaundice, feeding difficulties, multiple blood transfusions and chronic lung disease. “Around 24 weeks, the ultrasound showed that there was very less amniotic fluid around baby. The blood flow from mother to baby was severely compromised and there was no way the baby would have survived in the womb. After consulting many hospitals and doctors, they were referred to us,” pointed out Dr Ramesh Kancharla, chairman and managing director, Rainbow Group of Hospitals.
It was, however, a challenge for the team of neonatologists as the smallest baby saved earlier at the hospital weighed 449 grams. When the mother delivered on February 27, Cherry was just 375 grams and 20 cm in length. “The initial 3-4 days are crucial as babies are most fragile. In this case, especially, there were many health challenges like a drop in oxygen and BP levels. Owing to the size of the baby, we had to find the smallest possible breathing tube to be inserted. Moreover, the baby had a hearing problem (PDA) which normally closes in after birth and it did not close and was large in Cherry’s case, causing oxygenation problem,” said Dr Dinesh Kumar Chirla, director intensive care services, Rainbow Hospitals.
“We had to give special medication and keep the baby on ventilator for breathing support. Fortunately for this child, there was no bleeding in the brain,” he added. But on day five, Cherry had bleeding in her lungs and had to be shifted to a special ventilator called High Frequency Oscillation Ventilator where she was successfully managed for nearly 105 days.