‘MIRACLE’ BABY WEIGHING LESS THAN AN IPAD SURVIVES

Dubai: The parents of a premature baby who weighed less than an iPad at birth have praised the medical team, including an Indian doctor, which performed a ‘miracle’ to keep their son alive, a media report said on Sunday.

Filipina expatriate Susie, wife of Christopher Sacramento, delivered Nicholas in October, around 14 weeks prematurely at a hospital here. The baby weighed just 530 grams, less than an iPad which generally weighs over 600 grams, spent four months at the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) before finally going home.

The couple has paid an emotional tribute to the medical team which performed a miracle to keep their son alive, local media reported. “You have a great team, a team you can trust and consider a family. Not all patients see your team at the NICU pray for all the babies, but we see them do it everyday. They have the passion for their duties and responsibilities but, most of all, they have the heart, they share the same pain, they share their happiness, they share their love”, said the couple in their letter to chairperson of the hospital Dr Zulekha Daud.

Consultant Neonatologist Dr Monika Kaushal, one of the doctors treating the baby, classed Nicholas under a new group of babies known as micro-preemies, because he was born weighing under 900 grams. “The chance of survival and normal development for a 23- week preterm infant is normally very bleak and Nicholas’ survival was due to there being no damage to brain, lungs or eyes”, she said.

After 110 days of nurturing at the hospital, Nicholas, weighing a much healthier 1.9 kgs, was able to go home with his parents.

Source: PTI