Prematurely born smallest baby survives

Hyderabad: A baby girl weighing just 375 gms and only 20 cms in length was born to Nitika and Saurabh hailing from Chhattisgarh here in a city hospital on February 27. The baby Cherry born prematurely at 25 weeks gestation (nearly 4 months earlier than expected date), under the extensive care received at the hands of a multi-disciplinary team of medical experts led by Dr Dinesh Kumar Chirla, Director Intensive Care Services at Rainbow Hospitals, was discharged weighing 1.980 Kg.

This was Nitika’s fifth pregnancy after going through four abortions. This was her only chance to have a baby. Around 24 weeks the ultrasound showed that there was very less amniotic fluid around baby. She weighed just 350 grams. The blood flow from mother to baby was severely compromised. As there was no way baby would have survived in womb, Cherry was brought out and shifted to special neo-natal care. Cherry had bleeding in her lungs and needed to be shifted to special ventilator called High Frequency Oscillation ventilator. She was successfully managed. However, she needed ventilator for nearly 105 days. She had many emergencies from which she was successfully saved.

Cherry's case was a particularly complicated one with multiple hurdles including jaundice, feeding difficulties, multiple blood transfusion and chronic lung disease. With expert-care Cherry steadily gained weight and moved towards normalcy. She was discharged home after spending 128 days in hospital. She is breathing without support. She is feeding directly. She is maintaining temperature and looks like any other normal baby. The doctors expect her to be normal like any other baby. On follow up she weighed 2.14 kg.