SAVING LIVES,
PRE-TERM

27-week-old pre-term baby girl was successfully discharged
after spending 11 weeks in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

A multidisciplinary team of specialists successfully delivered a 27-week-old preterm baby girl. The case was particularly complicated due to various co-morbidities during pregnancy and prolonged intensive unit stay of the new-born, which increased the chances of infections. The baby girl - rightly named Aadya, after the Hindu deity Durga by her family, spent over 11 weeks in the NICU of the hospital, right after her birth in the 27th week. Paediatricians created an in-utero environment for the baby-girl to ensure she completes full 37 weeks with similar care and nutritional support as inside the womb.

Manisha Thakkar, the mother, was rushed to Nanavati Hospital on May 9 with preterm premature rupture of membranes in her 27th week of gestation. Her husband Paras said they had barely returned home from a routine check-up after which she started experiencing abdominal pain and went into labour.



Dr. Suruchi Desai, Consultant, Obstetrics & Gynaecology who headed the team said Thakkar was rushed to the hospital with sudden prelabour rupture of membranes - breakage of the amniotic sac before the onset of labour.

Manisha was losing amniotic fluid which is essential for the foetus’s growth and survival. Hence the doctors had to keep her in a tilted position for 36 hours to prevent further fluid loss. During this period, doctors administered medication to prevent any lung or neurological damage to the foetus. When a repeat sonography showed extremely low amniotic fluid content in her body, they decided to perform a c-section as a lifesaving measure for the baby. The Obstetrics & Gynaecology team had to act swiftly as any delay in surgery could have been fatal for the baby. The team then successfully delivered a baby girl and immediately shifted her to NICU to prevent chances of any possible infections. Pre-term babies have a high risk of retinopathy (vision impairment due to damage to the retina), nerve damage, cardiac anomalies, sensory impairment and most importantly, Hospital Acquired Infections. However, the team successfully created an in-utero environment in NICU to ensure the child receives similar care as the womb for the full 37 weeks.

Doctors from Nanavati Hospital were extremely proud at the time of Aadya’s discharge to handover a completely healthy child to the family despite such long hospitalisation and difficult conditions in which the baby was born. Doctors also drafted a detailed postdischarge routine for Aadya which is carefully followed by the family. Now after three months, Aadya has grown to a healthy 3.5kg and is as active as any child, born post a full-term delivery. With such high and efficient quality of medical care, highrisk pregnancies and uneventful child-births is now a possibility.