The National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology on January 3 reported a ‘miracle’: the hospital successfully carried out a special delivery and the baby can now leave the hospital in a normal status.

The mother of the baby is Bui N.D.J, a Vietnamese Canadian, who has had multiple miscarriages due to preeclampsia. During the fifth pregnancy, she decided to return to Vietnam in the 12th week of gestation to have her hypertension treated and have her conditions monitored at two hospitals.

In the 22nd week of pregnancy, she was brought to the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the state of serious dropsy and preeclampsia. Doctors said the survival possibility of the baby was low. The baby developed slowly in the uterus, was malnourished and had chronic fetal distress.

“We anticipated that it would be difficult to save the life of the baby, but we still tried our best to save him,” Tran Danh Cuong, director of the hospital, recalled. He said the baby’s chance of survival increased by 3 percent for every day of staying in the mother's womb.

In this case, where the mother suffers from preeclampsia during gestation, doctors determine that the life and safety of the mother is top priority. It was necessary to keep a close watch over the pregnant woman to avoid complications. She was watched closely with modern equipment.

As for the baby, the top priority was choosing the moment to carry out the operation to deliver the baby.

“We ‘dreamed’ of keeping the baby 28 or 29 weeks in the mother’s womb,” Cuong said. However, when the fetus was 25 weeks and 6 days old, doctors decided to have a cesarean section immediately as ultrasound images showed that the baby had a high risk of necrotizing enterocolitis, and the mother suffered from serious preeclampsia and edema with very high blood pressure. 

Getting the baby boy of only 500 grams, doctors immediately intubated and pumped surfactant and brought him to Neonatal Care and Treatment Center to have mechanical ventilation.

On the first day after coming into the world, the baby got five drops of milk (0.5ml) after every 1.5 hours. On the 12th day, he got 9-10ml for each meal and the baby then could get gastrointestinal feeding, according to Le Minh Trac, director of the center.

On January 3, the baby turned 97-days old and weighed 2 kilograms. He now can breathe on his own and can smile spontaneously.

Vo Thu