Born to Covid positive mother, at barely 30 weeks , premature baby beat odds to survive at Jivanta Children’s Hospital

UDAIPUR – Baby Maya’s tale of survival is an extraordinary one. The preemie, who was born to Covid positive mother , prematurely at just 30 weeks of gestation [ seven and half months] and weighed only 1400 grams , fought for 24 days to survive a stormy course in the neonatal ICU of Jivanta Children’s Hospital , Udaipur .

Maya  and Dev Singh [ name changed] from Udaipur married since 18  years were  very happy to welcome their baby . But unfortunately whole family came Covid positive. Everyone was worried about mother and baby.   She started premature labour pains and leaking of  amniotic fluid at 30 weeks of her pregnancy.  The  ultrasonography revealed nearly absent amniotic fluid. Couple rushed to private hospitals , but nobody was ready to deliver baby. Mother started with high grade fever and breathing difficulty and got admitted at Covid ESIC hospital, Udaipur on 2/4/21 and  as the survival of baby was getting compromised was taken up for emergency caesarean section.  Male baby was born  weighing  1400 grams . This was very precious and the only hope for the family . This baby  then  quickly transferred to Jivanta neonatal ICU for further care.

 “ We got call from patient’s father that mother is covid positive and premature baby needs NICU care and wants to shift baby after birth to Jivanta Hospital.  To salvage baby of  Covid positive mother and that too premature  is mammoth task and big challenge before our team  as such kind of babies can not be admitted in routine NICU where other babies can get infected with Covid-19. Our team accepted it and made necessary arrangement as per Covid protocol. We prepared one isolation NICU with separate entry and exit, incubator, ventilator, monitors , etc. ” Said Dr Sunil Janged , Chief Neonatologist at Jivanta Hospital.

 Dr Nikhilesh Nain  added, “ Baby born this small have extremely poor function of all body organs include lungs, heart, brain, kidney,skin, intestine & all of them need support for survival of baby. This is where skilled & dedicated  Neonatologist & Nursing staff is required, as the margin of error is close to zero. Problems related to any single system can singularly kill the baby .”

The baby was managed & looked after at Jivanta Neonatal ICU under precise care of Neonatologist Dr. Sunil Janged, Dr. Nikhilesh Nain, Dr Vinod, Dr Amit & trained nursing staff. At beginning baby was struggling to breathe , so was put on  respiratory support. His gut was immature & he could not be fed, so baby was put on TPN which means giving all essential nutrients such as protein, carbohydrate by blood. These are some of many problems one faces while managing such babies. Regular screening of heart & brain were performed to rule out any bleeding in brain.  Baby required ventilatory support  for 15 days.

In all he was in NICU for  22 days, today he is being discharged, on discharge his weight is 1.6 Kg  . By far his progress in NICU is satisfactory, Brain is structurally normal, eyes are developing normally.

During this Corona pandemic crisis this little fighter gives us moral boost . It was long & tough journey for me & my team , It is the latest technology, high end expertise of our NICU team, which has pulled this off. In last 6 years Jivanta has successfully treated more than 125 extreme premature babies weighing less than 1000 grams and   having more than 90% survival of extremely low birth babies” said Dr. Sunil Janged , Chief Neonatologist at Jivanta Children Hospital.