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Second tiniest American baby survives
Source: Agencies |
December 16, 2011, Friday
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AT birth, Melinda Star Guido was so tiny she could fit into the palm of her doctor's hand. Weighing just 9 1/2 ounces (0.26 kilograms), she is among the smallest babies ever born in the world. Most infants her size don't survive, but doctors are preparing to send her home by New Year's.
Melinda was born premature at 24 weeks over the summer and spent the early months cocooned in an incubator in a neonatal intensive care unit in California. Almost every day, her 22-year-old mother sits at her bedside and stays overnight whenever she can.
The day before her Thursday due date, Haydee Ibarra visited Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center where her daughter has been since her birth in August.
Melinda is believed to be the second smallest baby to survive in the United States and third in the world.
Ibarra caressed Melinda through the portholes of the incubator where nurses pinned up a homemade sign bearing her name. Now weighing 1.8kg, Melinda gripped Ibarra's pinky finger and yawned.
During her pregnancy, Ibarra suffered from high blood pressure, which can be dangerous for both mother and fetus. She was transferred from a hospital near her home to the county's flagship hospital, which was better equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies.
There was a problem with the placenta, the organ that nourishes the developing fetus. The fetus, however, was not getting proper nutrition, blood and oxygen. Doctors knew Melinda would weigh less than a pound, but they were surprised at how small and fragile she was. "The first few weeks, it was touch and go. None of us thought the baby was going to make it," said Dr Rangasamy Ramanathan, who oversees premature infants.
Even if she survived, doctors told Ibarra and her husband Yovani Guido, children born this extremely premature can have developmental delays and impairments, such as blindness, deafness or cerebral palsy.
Melinda was born premature at 24 weeks over the summer and spent the early months cocooned in an incubator in a neonatal intensive care unit in California. Almost every day, her 22-year-old mother sits at her bedside and stays overnight whenever she can.
The day before her Thursday due date, Haydee Ibarra visited Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center where her daughter has been since her birth in August.
Melinda is believed to be the second smallest baby to survive in the United States and third in the world.
Ibarra caressed Melinda through the portholes of the incubator where nurses pinned up a homemade sign bearing her name. Now weighing 1.8kg, Melinda gripped Ibarra's pinky finger and yawned.
During her pregnancy, Ibarra suffered from high blood pressure, which can be dangerous for both mother and fetus. She was transferred from a hospital near her home to the county's flagship hospital, which was better equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies.
There was a problem with the placenta, the organ that nourishes the developing fetus. The fetus, however, was not getting proper nutrition, blood and oxygen. Doctors knew Melinda would weigh less than a pound, but they were surprised at how small and fragile she was. "The first few weeks, it was touch and go. None of us thought the baby was going to make it," said Dr Rangasamy Ramanathan, who oversees premature infants.
Even if she survived, doctors told Ibarra and her husband Yovani Guido, children born this extremely premature can have developmental delays and impairments, such as blindness, deafness or cerebral palsy.
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