Now I know that newspapers and magazines do exaggerate their stories, especially concerning human lives and tragedies. I can think of two instances in the Observer where the headline has proclaimed 'miracle baby.' All babies are a miracle to their parents, but these miracle babies which reach the press are very often nothing out of the ordinary.
A recent one which was celebrating the first birthday of twins born six or seven weeks early, proclaimed them to be miracle babies. I was laughing my head off, it is not out of the ordinary at all for twins to be born at this gestation, in fact, it is rather commonplace.
Another one a few years ago 'miracle baby born after ten years infertility.' Again, no miracle involved, I knew this couple, they had been married for ten years, but had actually been separated for eight of them. Got back together and conceived straight away.......
I have recently witnessed a real miracle... A young lady was transferred to us from a different part of the country due to there being no neonatal intensive care cots in her area. It was a sad situation, a baby of only 26 weeks gestation who was severely growth retarded and only 20 weeks size. No water around the baby on scan and some fairly serious sounding abnormalities on the scan. Nobody held much hope for this baby, the mother had a severe infection and our doctors, on considering all of the information decided that the baby would probably only have a 10% chance of survival. We prepared the mother and her family as best we could for the loss of her baby......
The paediatrician agreed to be present at the delivery just in case the baby showed signs of life and to pronounce the death of the baby if it didn't.
All of a sudden the baby started to be born. Babies who are so premature often arrive extremely quickly. Somebody dashed to the phone to summon the paediatrician. I legged it into the room to help my friend with the delivery. The baby literally shot out in the bag of water. There was plenty of water in the bag and the little mite was wriggling inside the fluid. We split open the bag and put the tiny little girl into a freezer bag, we use these to insulate very prem babies and they are extremely effective. The tiny little girl was giving a very high pitched little cry and was trying to breathe, with still no sign of the doctor we gave her a bit of oxygen. The doctor strolled in and did a double take. This baby was in great condition and we finally managed to get to the phone and get the emergency neonatal team up to us.
She was taken to the intensive care unit and put on a ventilator. Weighing in at 1lb 6oz she was a very respectable size and not at all growth retarded. A couple of hours later they had to switch off the ventilator, she was breathing on her own. X-Rays showed that her lungs were perfect and she looked perfect on the outside too. No signs of any of the abnormalities seen on the scan....
So you see, real miracles can happen. I have no doubt that this little girl will face many hurdles in the coming months, but even in a person so tiny, the fighting spirit can triumph......... and size doesn't matter at all..
A recent one which was celebrating the first birthday of twins born six or seven weeks early, proclaimed them to be miracle babies. I was laughing my head off, it is not out of the ordinary at all for twins to be born at this gestation, in fact, it is rather commonplace.
Another one a few years ago 'miracle baby born after ten years infertility.' Again, no miracle involved, I knew this couple, they had been married for ten years, but had actually been separated for eight of them. Got back together and conceived straight away.......
I have recently witnessed a real miracle... A young lady was transferred to us from a different part of the country due to there being no neonatal intensive care cots in her area. It was a sad situation, a baby of only 26 weeks gestation who was severely growth retarded and only 20 weeks size. No water around the baby on scan and some fairly serious sounding abnormalities on the scan. Nobody held much hope for this baby, the mother had a severe infection and our doctors, on considering all of the information decided that the baby would probably only have a 10% chance of survival. We prepared the mother and her family as best we could for the loss of her baby......
The paediatrician agreed to be present at the delivery just in case the baby showed signs of life and to pronounce the death of the baby if it didn't.
All of a sudden the baby started to be born. Babies who are so premature often arrive extremely quickly. Somebody dashed to the phone to summon the paediatrician. I legged it into the room to help my friend with the delivery. The baby literally shot out in the bag of water. There was plenty of water in the bag and the little mite was wriggling inside the fluid. We split open the bag and put the tiny little girl into a freezer bag, we use these to insulate very prem babies and they are extremely effective. The tiny little girl was giving a very high pitched little cry and was trying to breathe, with still no sign of the doctor we gave her a bit of oxygen. The doctor strolled in and did a double take. This baby was in great condition and we finally managed to get to the phone and get the emergency neonatal team up to us.
She was taken to the intensive care unit and put on a ventilator. Weighing in at 1lb 6oz she was a very respectable size and not at all growth retarded. A couple of hours later they had to switch off the ventilator, she was breathing on her own. X-Rays showed that her lungs were perfect and she looked perfect on the outside too. No signs of any of the abnormalities seen on the scan....
So you see, real miracles can happen. I have no doubt that this little girl will face many hurdles in the coming months, but even in a person so tiny, the fighting spirit can triumph......... and size doesn't matter at all..
