Baby Pearl
Doctors at Careggi hospital in Florence, Italy, sent the “miracle” baby home in late May weighing two kilograms (4.4 pounds), saying she has a nearly 100 percent chance of enjoying a normal life.
“She really had the will to live, she was strong and lively,” Margarita Psaraki, the pediatrician on the baby's medical team, said. “She was immediately lively, active. This helped us to help her.”
Doctors said that at the parents' wishes, they were identifying neither the baby nor the parents, who live near Florence. The medical team nicknamed the girl “Pearl.”
In the Palm of His Hand
The baby was delivered by Caesarean section in early February during the
27th week of pregnancy. At that stage of prematurity, some babies do survive, but they have weighed much more at birth.
“We were completely taken aback. The weight is usually double that at the 27th week,” said Psaraki, interviewed by phone at her home after finishing her shift at the hospital.
Psaraki said the baby's survival “is an absolute record.”
The previous record was set in the 1990s by a baby in Japan who weighed 300 grams (10.5 ounces) at birth, doctors said Friday at a news conference in Florence. A low birth weight is considered to be 1.1 kilograms (2.5 pounds) and under.
Early in the pregnancy, “Pearl's” mother was diagnosed as having arteritis, which is inflammation of the arteries, and at one point was at risk of needing a leg amputated, the doctors said. That persuaded them to deliver the baby early but at a stage when survival is possible.
Dr. Firmino Rubaltelli, in charge of the medical team that cared for her, told reporters that the baby's survival was a “true and proper miracle.” He predicted that her chances for having a normal life are “nearly 100 percent.”
When doctors saw how little the baby weighed, they asked themselves: “Do we go on? And how do we go on?” with her care, Psaraki said in another interview, on Canale 5, a private TV network.
“I was afraid of holding her,” Psaraki told Canale 5. At birth, “she was 25 centimeters (10 inches) long. But that's when she was stretched out. Normally babies curl up and then she would fit right into your hand.”
Inspiring Hope in Others
After delivery, the baby's weight dropped to 255 grams (8.92 ounces), but she rebounded. Her mother was allowed to nurse when the baby reached 700 grams (1.53 pounds).
Before that, the mother was only allowed to caress her child after donning sterile gloves.
“Her skin was so thin,” said Psaraki, adding that the baby “was struggling to breathe” and had to be intubated at the beginning.
Doctors said that they asked a company to design special instruments, such as tubing, to help care for the baby because she was so small.
The parents, while shying away from publicity, wanted their baby's story told to inspire hope in other parents, doctors said.
(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)
