Growing Your Baby - Parenthood from Pregnancy to Pre-school » Miracle Baby

“Miracle Mom” Survives H1N1 While 9 Months Pregnant

Shannon — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:08:42 +0000

Twenty nine year old Karin McHugh had one of the worst cases of H1N1 doctors had ever seen. She was also nine months pregnant at the time she became ill. But remarkably, her baby is healthy and she lived to tell the story.

Her illness was a textbook case of how the H1N1 virus can be particularly harmful to expectant mothers.

It started back in July when Karin developed a cough with some wheezing. She didn’t ever consider the possibility of it being the H1N1 flu. Not feeling very well, she called her OBGYN to see what she could take and was told to see her family doctor. They diagnosed her with bronchitis and sent her home with an inhaler.

Just five days later she started running a fever and couldn’t get out of bed. She knew something wasn’t right and told her husband to take her to the hospital.

When doctors at the hospital did some x-rays they saw that Karin had fluid on her lungs. At first they thought that she had pneumonia and placed her on a respirator. When that didn’t help she was tested for H1N1. Positive results prompted an emergency c-section and then she was placed in a medically induced coma for seven weeks.

“She was as sick as anyone could be,” Scott Halpern, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania said.
McHugh was placed on a heart-lung bypass machine, but despite doctors’ best efforts to keep her stable, she twice suffered cardiac arrest.

Karin didn’t get to meet her precious son until he was almost two months old. Thankfully the c-section was done right away or else baby Liam would have died also. There was barely enough oxygen for Karin herself, nevermind enough to support the baby.

Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that through late August, about 100 pregnant women in the United States required hospitalization in the intensive care unit for infection with the new strain of the H1N1 virus. Of these women, 28 so far had died due to complications directly associated with the virus.

A study that was published in the journal Lancet in August suggests that pregnant women are at much greater risk of severe complications from the H1N1 virus than the rest of the population.

Despite sobering warnings from the CDC that pregnant women are seven times as likely to be hospitalized with H1N1 and four times as likely to die from it, some women — with the advice of their doctors — are choosing not to get the vaccine because they fear its potential effects on their unborn babies.

Karin said that if she heard of a story like this while pregnant she would have definitely got the vaccine for it, had it been available. She knows just how lucky she is to have survived such an ordeal and have a healthy baby too.

“He’s perfect,” she said.

- Shannon Strohm, Staff Writer

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Couple Marvels At Their Amazing Baby Who Survived Despite Extreme Complications

Lisa — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:28:54 +0000

Leigh Dumighan and David Newcombe have a lot to be thankful for just one year after their son Warwick was born.

The smiling birthday boy was born under extreme complications that meant if he survived he would have a difficult life ahead of him.

Born at 29 weeks gestation, Warwick arrived weighing just two pounds.

On arrival, he was diagnosed with a bleed on the brain, heart problems and spent an agonising three weeks in intensive care.

After a fungal infection gripped hold of his heart, doctors told the couple that if he pulled through he would still be severely disabled, not be able to see, hear, move around, or even know who they were.

Three weeks after his premature birth, Leigh and David made the heartbreaking decision to take him out of his incubator, withdraw his treatment and allow him to die with dignity in their arms.

They stayed with him in a private hospital room for eight days, giving him the cuddles they had been unable to and waiting for him to pass away.

But astonishingly, and despite him stopping breathing 18 times, he battled to survive and has celebrated the first birthday his parents thought they would never see.

Leigh said: “When we took the decision to let him pass away, it was the hardest thing we have ever had to do.

“The prognosis was highly likely that he would be deaf, blind, bedridden and quadriplegic – the quality of life he would have had would have just been unbearable.

“That’s why we decided to take him off treatment, I knew he’d had enough.

“We wanted to give him all the cuddles and kisses every baby needs and deserves without all the wires and pain.

“The hospital gave us a private room to say goodbye in and told us to get him baptised as quickly as possible.

“We stayed in that room waiting for him to die for eight days, there were times when he stopped breathing and his face went a shade of blue and we thought it was it.

“He was on a do not resuscitate order but he seemed to start himself back up.

“He stopped breathing 18 times, the heart rate monitor went off and we prepared ourselves for the worst.

“Warwick brought himself back to life, they didn’t even expect him to last one night – he had no drugs or treatment, nothing.

“He slept with me in a bed in that room for those eight days, hearing my heart beating as he lay beside me, his skin on mine.

“What happened to Warwick is a pure miracle, it’s as simple as that.”

After nine days in the care by parent room, doctors allowed Leigh and David to take tiny Warwick home to their house in Coventry, weighing just three pounds.

Three months later he was given the all-clear by medics, who said he was not going to die.

Leigh, who was a finance worker but is now involved with baby charity Bliss, said:

“We went to hospital on October 6 and saw a heart specialist and brain specialist.
“That’s when we had the amazing news that the heart infection had completely cleared up and that he was going to survive.

“Now when people see him who don’t know he has the palsy they have no idea there is anything wrong with him at all.

“When he gets older I know he will be able to crawl and talk and the fact he is celebrating his birthday is amazing when you think about what has happened to him.

“A year ago we made the right decision – I know that because he survived.

“He is not meant to be here, but he is and I think it is a miracle.

“I hope his story just gives hope to other mums of premature babies.”

While this is not the outcome for all babies in this situation, this little man has shown us that he is a fighter. Nurses will tell you that they spend hours a day tweaking a baby’s oxygen, pressures and feeds, just to have them do better on their own terms.

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24 Week Baby Kept Alive With Bubble Wrap

Lisa — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:41:53 +0000

I am always amazed at the lengths that doctors will go to to keep a micro-preemie alive.

When Gregor Craig arrived at just 24 weeks weighing a tiny 1lb 14oz, he was so small that his father’s wedding ring fitted over his arm.

His chances of survival were slim, but doctors wanted to give him every chance.

So they wrapped him in the bubble wrap to keep him warm. Hospitals often use plastic wrap to help premature babies retain their body heat, but this was the first time the doctors in Kintyre, western Scotland, had used the bubble variety.

At just 24 weeks gestation Gregor’s mom began suffering severe stomach pain. Doctors found that her she was suffering from a urinary tract infection that triggered labor and they couldn’t stop the baby from arriving.

After he arrived, doctors only gave Gregor a 10 per cent chance of survival.

After spending 17 weeks in the special care nursery, this little fighter has persevered through many set backs including laser eye surgery at ten weeks to stop him going blind as the blood vessels in his eyes hadn’t developed properly.

When Gregor reached 7lb, he was allowed home, even though he needs to still have daily oxygen, and his parents have had to learn how to resuscitate him if necessary.

Mrs Craig said: ‘He is now a happy six-month-old and incredibly all he seems to have is some slight hearing problems. It’s a small price to pay for having him here with us.’

While it is common to wrap babies this small in plastic wrap second after birth to maintain their body temperature, I am not sure what benefit the bubbles adds…

Every baby that arrives and survives at this gestation is a miracle. We wish this little fighter the best for the future.

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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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