One of the smallest babies, born at 26 weeks of gestation and weighing merely 430 grams, was successfully discharged, after 85 days of fighting against all odds, from the Rainbow Children Hospital, Vizag.
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The baby boy, named Arjun Varma, was ceremoniously awarded a NICU graduation certificate along with four other extremely preterm babies discharged in the same month. Dr. Ragasudha and her team gave details to the media on Thursday
The baby’s mother Haneesha visited Dr. Ch Ragasudha, a senior obstetrician at the hospital, on March 29 this year with complaints of leakage of water at merely five-and-half months of pregnancy. An emergency ultrasound scan revealed that there was no amniotic fluid. But, luckily the blood supply from mother to the baby was not affected and there were no signs of infection.
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After discussing with the NICU team and parents, Dr. Ragasudha decided to try to prolong the pregnancy, while ensuring the health and safety of both mother and baby, as each day inside the uterus was going to improve the baby’s chances of survival. Haneesha was given medicines to improve maturity of baby’s lungs and brain.
After eight days, Haneesha went into labour and delivered a baby boy on April 7.
Arjun didn’t breathe immediately at birth. He required intubation with the smallest size of endotracheal tube. A medicine called surfactant was given to improve maturity of his lungs.
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The average weight for newborn babies is around 3 kg. All of his organs were very immature and he would not be able to survive on his own.
Arjun required ventilator support for close to 50 days followed by oxygen support for another 25 days. He received nutrition through his veins along with mother’s milk to support his growth and blood sugar levels. Arjun faced multiple issues like fluctuating oxygen levels, jaundice and irregular breathing.
Dr. Vishal Kole, Dr. Anvesh Amiti, Dr. Srilatha Puli were the other members of the team.