I Saw A Miracle At Work Today

[THUNDER HANDS]

For those who don't know, I work in the Neonatal unit of a hospital in New York. We usually get babies in here who are between four and six pounds.

They may be a couple of weeks premature and they generally stay here for about two weeks to a month here and then go home.

Well, today we got something different.

Born at 27 weeks gestation (full term is 42 weeks) a little bundle of joy entered the world today. Weighing a whopping 403g (14 ounces, not even a pound) he is absolutely, positively, without a doubt the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

He's about the size of a barbie doll and he's in nearly perfect health. It has the doctors and nurses absolutely stunned.


If he survives, which is a BIG "if", not so much based on the conditions of his birth, but by the ability of the doctors and nurses to get IV's and stuff in him, he will probably go down in history as the smallest baby to ever be born and survive in a New York State hospital.

I already looked up online, and the kid is about 115g away from being the smallest baby EVER born, period.

Amazing, truely amazing.

:)

Just thought I'd share this with you all.

crap...just noticed where I posted this..please move it to the Lounge. Thanks.

[Rowdyboy]

1. My aunt, born prematurly in 1920...

weihed in at under 2 pounds. Her father could cover her face with a silver dollar and they used handkerchiefs for diaper. She lived well into her 70's.

And congratulations on a miracle! Its truly wonderous...

[Dookus]

2. wow....

good luck to the little guy!

I was born small (for the time) at 4lb, 11oz and was in was the neonatal unit for a month. Of course, this was back in '61. I'm a twin and we were born a month early.

It's amazing what they can do nowadays. Give the little guy a pat on the head for me!

[jiacinto]

3. Well

I've heard stories of babies born as early as 20 weeks who've lived.

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. i doubt it

The lungs and air sacks develope at 24 weeks.

[jiacinto]

5. It was shown on Oprah

It was a miracle literally.

[Book Lover]

10. Oprah, the TV counterpart to the Journal of Neonatology (nm)

[TrogL]

12. Literally?

Intervention of a diety??

[Deb]

6. Thats just what I wanted to ask about

Is he breathing on his own? This is so amazing to me, it seems like boys are the ones to have a harder time with lung problems.

Hope mother is doing well. It's going to be a long haul for her too.

[THUNDER HANDS]

9. no

Right now he's on what's called a Nasal CPAP. But at least he's not on a ventiallator, which is what I've seen kids who were weeks older and POUNDS heavier go on.

[jiacinto]

11. Are you a nurse?

nt

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. no

I'm a researcher. I track and study all the cases of extreme prematurity in the unit.

[jiacinto]

14. Ok

It sounds interesting.

[WhoDoYouTrust]

7. My grandaughter...

was 1 pound 10 1.2 ounces when she was born. She is now 4 and the joy of our lives. She has cerebral palsy and may never walk or talk, but we never give up hope.

They were not going to have any more children, but lo and behold, Brittany Rose was born on October 2. She was 5 pounds 2 ounces and up to a whopping 6 pounds 14 ounces now!

Never know what life is going to bring, do you?

[DrWeird]

8. Hey, that's cool. A friend had premature twins...

awhile ago. Each only a little over one pound. Really sketchy there for awhile. Now they're two of just about the fattest little babies I've ever seen. They're sure going to be spoiled.

[Ilsa]

15. Magic, What is the latest statistic

for long term developmental (or medical) problems in babies born under 28 weeks? 26 weeks? 24 weeks?

I've heard that survival isn't always what it's cut out to be about 50% if the time for one of those groups, but haven't heard any new statistics in about a year. I hope that number has decreased if the babies are living when born so much earlier.

[THUNDER HANDS]

16. I'm actually working on something like that now

Currently, there is a big difference when it comes to what week a baby is at.

Between 24-25 weeks the survival rate is about 5%
Between 25-26 weeks that number jumpst to about 50%
Between 26-28 weeks it jumps even higher to about 85%

[leftyandproud]

17. Why did you have to post this??

urrg, stuff like this makes me want to reconsider my position on abortion...stories like this make me ALMOST agree with right wingers on the issue.

27 weeks?? That's practically MID term!..unreal that the baby could survive..

[THUNDER HANDS]

19. well, 21 is mid-term

But I'm almost certain that's the numbers. If I'm wrong, I'll post it when I get to work tomorrow.

But working here hasn't affected my opinion on abortion at all. I know a lot of Catholic doctors who are probably pro-life but realize the need to terminate a pregnancy to save the life of the mother.

And in other instances too, that you might not think for Catholic doctors. And that's the artificial incimination errors that occur when a multiple pregnancy happens.

Those times on the news when you hear about women having 6 or 7 or 8 kids at once. You see the stories about them raising them as babies. But you don't hear about them much afterwards. That's because most of the time the kids are handicapped.

So it might be better for the mother to terminate a few of her chidlren.

That's from a pro-life Catholic doctor.

Mental health is as important as physical health, which is why I support a woman's right to choose anytime she wants. No questions asked.

Even though I'm still pulling like hell for this kid.

[legin]

25. That is kinda to the point leftyandproud

My views on the abortion issue underwent a massive sea change when I read Applied Ethics by Peter Singer, which has a section on abortion.

(The Peter Singer book is 75% highly disagreeable, but very thought provoking. The book is (or was) a british Open University set book and also possibly still banned in Germany. The other book in the same vein is 'Causing Death and Saving Lives by Johnathan Glover)

[Kellanved]

26. Nope

The book isn't banned in Germany (why should it be banned ? - no swastika in there AFAIK). And even if: the "normal" bann makes an item unavailable for minors - nothing more.

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/3150080339/qid=1067946091/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_11_1/028-4486859-7362134
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0198750676/qid=1067946354/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_10_5/028-4486859-7362134

[blondeatlast]

18. God bless you neonatal types!!! I had a very high risk pregnancy

that resulted in my beautiful, healthy son.

On my last pre-delivery visit to Phoenix Perinatal, a couple came in with their tiny sweetie, a mere 4 pounds at 6 weeks. She was healthy though. Indeed it is a miracle, here's to another one, I sincerely hope. My son was full term, 5 pounds, 6 oz. and get this: I've been insulin-dependent for (at the time) 33 years!!!

That must be tough work, but those of us who are success stories owe you such a debt of gratitude.

Thanks--and thanks for sharing.

[proud patriot]

20. I have a friend who's a flobatomist

she works with newborns . I sure hope they can
find the veins and stuff to do what they need to do .

[Heddi]

22. phlebotomist? ha ha

i'm studying now to be a phlebotomist before I get into nursing school so I can have some sort of meaningful work experience while I'm waiting.....

neonatal phlebotomy is very hard coursework--I'm not even allowed to do certain prenatal procedures when I get out of school unless I have specialized training because if you do something just a bit wrong, you can really really mess up that kid for ever (same with adults, but with adults you have a bit more lee-way)

[proud patriot]

23. Yes ...you got it ..

I'm a horrible speller especially
with medical words . I helped my
Husband with some classes for his
EMT training ...

My friend tells me some amazing stories
about her job . I hope you find it as
rewarding as she .

[Lars39]

21. How times have changed......

My great grandmother had unexpected twins about 80 yrs ago. No doctor delivery, they lived out in the sticks. The twins were born prematurely. They were so small that they fit into shoe boxes. To help keep them alive and warm, they put them in the warming compartment of the woodstove. They both survived. The male was known as the tallest man in the county for many years, and the female grew to be about 6 foot. They have both died within the last few years.

[MuseRider]

24. I have always had a huge amount

of respect for those who can work Neonatal! I was an ICU nurse and an ER nurse and I could not ever even imagine myself working neonatal. I hope the little guy makes it. What a wonderful person you are to do this work.

[bleedingheart]

27. my youngest was a NICU baby

born at 34 weeks she needed a ventilator and surfactant so if that little guy is already breathing without one it is a miracle.

I hope that he does make it without any lasting problems.

My little bunny was 6lbs 5 oz at birth so you never know which ones will have the problems breathing. She had Respiratory Distress Syndrome and it took three doses of surfactant to help get her on her way to recovery. I owe her success to the NICU people at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Little Patrick Kennedy (JFK's and Jackie's child born in 1963) died but had surfactant been around then he would have probably lived.

[playahata1]

28. MARK TWAIN was born prematurely.

I found this out when I was studying for my doctoral examinations in English a few years ago. I can't remember if his birth weight was mentioned in the article I'd read, but I was amazed that anyone born prematurely and in a rural area in 1835 -- a time in which crucial neonatal procedures were either primitive or nonexistent -- could have lived as long as he did. (Twain died in 1910.)

[MissMillie]

29. Some of us tend to forget

miraculous things happen every day. Thanks for the reminder.

Your job must be filled w/ highs and lows. It takes a special person to work in a place like that.

(And no, I'm not flirting! lol)