NICU experts at Women Center by Motherhood Hospitals in Coimbatore
Mrs. Priya (name changed), 35-year-old woman, conceived for the second time after five years. This is a special pregnancy where the mother had been suffering from lifestyle issues like high blood pressure, diabetes. She went into preterm labour and gave birth to a baby boy at 24 weeks, almost 4 months earlier to the due date of her delivery, via emergency c-section at Women’s Center by Motherhood, Coimbatore.
The baby was an extreme preterm with a low birth weight of 594 grams. Since he was critically ill, the doctors had to shift the baby immediately to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a period of nearly 100 days. A team of experienced Neonatologists, Dr. Karthik Balasubramanian and Dr. Saranya Manickaraj at Women’s Center by Motherhood Hospital, Coimbatore successfully ensured proper evaluation and treatment must be given to the newborn baby in a timely manner.
Since the baby was extremely premature, the weight dropped to 440 grams at one point, which became a challenge for the team. Further, they took a multidisciplinary approach to appropriately treat the preterm baby. The newborn suffered several complications like respiratory distress, which required breathing support, apnea of prematurity and feed intolerance which required constant monitoring and treatment, anemia of prematurity which required multiple blood transfusions and ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) which required laser therapy in the eyes.
This baby also had a Patent ductus arteriosus – a tube in the heart which usually closes by 2-3 days of life but can remain open in preterm babies causing a lot of complications. The treating team used medical therapy to close the duct successfully. The baby stayed in the NICU for close to 100 days. Proper management of fluids and other treatment aspects were meticulously planned by team to ensure intact survival of the baby.
Dr Karthik Balasubramanian, Consultant Neonatologist & Pediatrician, Women’s Center by Motherhood said, “The baby responded very well to the given treatment and recovered after many days of hardship. This was all due to timely intervention and quality treatment he got during his stay in the NICU. The team was observing the progress the newborn was making day-to-day. Later, when we saw the baby’s vitals are normal and gained weight around 1.45 kgs, we shifted the newborn to the mother, so that she can exclusively breastfeed.
He further adds, “It was challenging to provide the required treatment as the condition of the baby kept fluctuating. The different aspects of his treatment like fluid management, infection control, nutrition all proved very challenging in his case. But our priority was not only to save the life of the baby but also ensure intact survival so that his health condition will be stable during development.”
Dr Saranya Manickaraj, Consultant Neonatologist & Paediatrician, Womens Center by Motherhood said, “As a team our priority was to first stabilize the baby and treat him accordingly. Treating a 24 weeker is very difficult as it not only involves a lot of intensive treatment like ventilation, central lines and constant high level of monitoring but also involves a lot of delicate care to make sure the developing organs, especially the brain, is not harmed during the treatment or disease control process. The most precious thing was the support we received from the parents, which played an important role in the baby’s recovery. I am elated, feeling grateful and congratulate the parents who are going back with their precious one. I would like to wish the entire medical and nursing team who worked efficiently to assure the outcome.”
Womens Center by Motherhood Hospital, Coimbatore has Level 3 NICU with state-of-the-art equipment including ventilators to treat extremely premature babies with extreme low birth weight and sick babies. The Hospital also has a well-equipped Neonatal ambulance with ventilator facility along with an experienced transport team and have transported many sick newborn babies to the NICU from in and around the city and even as far as Pollachi, Sathy and Ooty.
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