Growing Your Baby - Parenthood from Pregnancy to Pre-school » Amillia Taylor

The 21 Week Controversy

Lisa — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:11:26 +0000

A Mom in the UK is taking on a medical council after her baby, born at 21 weeks 5 days, was refused medical assistance following his early arrival.

Sarah Capewell is now fighting for a review of the medical guidelines.

During an interview with the Dailymail, Sarah said medics allegedly told her that they would have tried to save the baby if he had been born two days later, at 22 weeks.

In fact, the medical guidelines for Health Service hospitals in the UK state that babies should not be given intensive care if they are born at less than 23 weeks.

The guidance, drawn up by the Nuffield Council, is not compulsory but advises doctors that medical intervention for very premature children is not in the best interests of the baby, and is not ’standard practice’.

Sarah’s re-count of Jayden’s birth is heartbreaking. She recalls that the newborn ‘put out his arms and legs and pushed himself over’.

A midwife who has assisted her said he was breathing and had a strong heartbeat, and described him as a “little fighter”.

Through the whole ordeal, the new mom kept asking for the doctors but the midwife said, “They won’t come and help, sweetie. Make the best of the time you have with him”.’

She cuddled her child and took precious photos of him, but he died in her arms less than two hours after his birth.

After suffering complications during her pregnancy, Sarah went into labour last October at 21 weeks 4 days.

Because she had not reached 22 weeks, she was refused injections to try to stop the labour, or a steroid injection to help to strengthen her baby’s lungs.

Instead, doctors told her to treat the labour as a miscarriage, not a birth, and to expect her baby to be born with serious deformities or even to be still-born.

Jayden arrived a few hours later and managed to survive for two hours.

Sarah has now taken her fight to the internet and set up a website in Jayden’s memory.

Many people have commented with support, but the most poignant comment came from an NICU doctor.

I am a doctor who works in a NICU and have done so for some years. I try to give every baby a chance, but I am also a realist. A baby born at 22/40 has no chance of surivival. Indeed, even at 23 weeks, there is only about 20% chance of survival and the majority will have significant disability. Instituting intensive care would be a painful, but brief prolongation of a life for a child born at 22 weeks. Jayden’s picture shows him to be a lovely and well formed baby, but still quite foetal. We would not be able to put drips in, and I suspect putting a breathing tube without damaging his fragile airway would have been impossible. I am truly sorry for your loss, but I believe your campaign is against the best interests of these children.

While researching her cause, Sarah was shocked to discover that another child, born in the U.S. at 21 weeks and six days into her mother’s pregnancy, had survived.

Amillia Taylor was born in Florida in 2006 and celebrated her second birthday last October. She is the youngest premature baby to survive.

She said: ‘I could not believe that one little girl, Amillia Taylor, is perfectly healthy after being born in Florida in 2006 at 21 weeks and six days.

‘Thousands of women have experienced this. The doctors say the babies won’t survive but how do they know if they are not giving them a chance?’

Personal note: As many of you know, my son was born at 24 weeks 1 day weighing 675gms. Before his arrival, I spent quite a few weeks in the hospital on bed rest trying to keep him safe. At 23 weeks 5 days, I went into labor and was told that doctors would not resuscitate the baby if he arrived on that day. Lucky for me I was able to stop the contractions and hold off the delivery. Having him at 21 weeks 5 days would have never been an option in this Province.

Secondly, I believe that Sonya Taylor, Amillia Taylor’s mom told the doctors she was further along than she was in order for them to give her daughter medical care.

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Thank you to reader Nadia

Amillia Taylor Turns 2!

Lisa — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:18:53 +0000

The world’s most premature baby ever is celebrating a very special birthday.

Amillia Taylor, born at just 21 weeks and weighing only 10 ounces, turned 2 years old yesterday.

Her proud parents told Local 10’s Laurie Jennings that Baby Amillia now weighs a healthy 26 pounds and is 26 ½ inches tall.

Amillia is also taking steps in their Homestead home and sounding out her few words and developmentally progressing very well.

And some more great news — Amillia’s mom is pregnant. A sister for the miracle baby is due Christmas Day!

Amillia Taylor Turns 1!!

Lisa — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:59:16 +0000

The Florida baby that had been called the “youngest surviving preemie” has turned 1.

Amillia Taylor was born at 21 weeks 6 days weighing 10ozs in Miami Florida last year.

It was amazing that the baby was even resuscitated because:

The American Association of Pediatrics says that babies born at less than 23 weeks of age and 400g in weight are not considered viable. The survival rate for a child born at 23 weeks and weighing a pound is just 30 per cent.

She spent 4 months in the NICU and then was released to go home requiring oxygen.

In July, People Magazine ran an update article on her and at that time she was growing and thriving at home with her parents.

Last week, about a hundred family members, friends, doctors, nurses and physical caretakers gathered for a birthday party at Signature Gardens, where the miracle of her birth and the prayer-fueled, financially draining medical feat that has been the first year of her life were celebrated.

This last year has been challenging for the Taylor family. Amillia’s arrival put tremendous stress on them.

There were the daily doctor visits. Amillia had to be kept in extremely sanitary conditions and fed every four hours. The parents had to administer a dozen medications to the little girl daily. Because Amillia couldn’t be exposed to crowds, the family couldn’t attend church or social events. They were medically segregated.

And to top it all off, anti-abortion activists, convinced Amillia underscored the righteousness of their cause, showed up at their door at odd hours, sometimes from overseas, asking for pictures and testimonials.

Police officers had to patrol the area.

The family does not want their baby to be a poster child for anti-abortion websites like lifesitenews.com and prolifeblogs.com.

They just want her to be their daughter.

Although she is still a few pounds underweight, Amillia is healthy, down to one medication a day, Prevacid for her heartburn, and one doctors visit a month. She suffers from reflux.

In the last two weeks, she had a growth spurt, growing 2 ½ inches, her mom said.

On Saturday, she sprouted her first tooth.

In order to cope with the stress of being a preemie mom, Sonja Taylor has joined an online support group so that she can connect with other moms in her situation.

”We talk about everything from lactation to diaper changes to our own emotions,” said Taylor.

Like many preemie moms the Taylors worry about their daughter getting sick.

The medical appointments are early in the morning when other people are not around so Amillia is not exposed to germs.

”I always keep her covered,” she said. “We can’t ride in elevators with other people.

Last week, Amillia got clearance to be in crowds. On Sunday, the family will attend services at their church.

After reading how well Amilia Taylor has done, along with the many other babies I have covered that have arrived well before their due date, it is disheartening to read that:

UKs Health Minister Dawn Primarolo told MPs today that medical technology had not advanced enough to justify a reduction in the 24 week time limit for abortion because a baby born at that gestation still had little chance of surviving.

Our hospital has a survial rate of about 65% for babies that are born at 24 weeks gestation. How much better do they need?

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