Mom looking forward to taking her miracle premature baby Jazeel home
AFTER spending nearly 150 days in hospital, one of South Africa’s tiniest premature babies is set to go home.
Baby Jaz eel Hlophe, weighed a shocking 395g when she was born at 25 weeks at the Netcare Clinton Hospital in Alberton in June this year.
Today Jazeel weighs a healthy 2.2kg and will be reunited with her parents next week.
Her discharge from hospital coincides with World Prematurity Day celebrated yesterday around the word.
Jazeel’s mother Helen Sauls had pregnancy-induced hypertension, which led to the baby being born 15 weeks early as a micro-premature baby.
But baby Jazeel’s day-today fight saw her defy odds and she grew from strength to strength.
Nurses at the hospital were so taken aback by Jazeel’s remarkable fight, they nicknamed her “Wonder Woman”.
Dr Klaas Mnisi, a neonatologist at Netcare Clinton Hospital, said he was “blown away” by the baby’s miraculous progress.
“There is still some debate about whether babies born at a gestational age of between 23 and 25 weeks have a reasonable prospect of survival. But, when you see how well Jazeel is doing, it is most encouraging,” said Mnisi.
“These days micro-premature babies have a better chance of surviving, and Jazeel is now thriving – she is one of the miracles who show us what is possible.”
Jazeel’s mother Helen said she was looking forward to taking her daughter home after a “tough few months”.
“I am very excited but obviously we do not want to rush it.
“She has been in hospital for nearly 150 days and has gained a lot of weight and strength. Jazeel now drinks the whole bottle when I feed her. We hope and pray that by next week I can take her home.”
Jazeel’s parents said they had been through a very challenging time in the last four months.
“She was very small, and I didn’t know anything about premature babies before. My partner and I and our families were very worried. But God helped us,” said Helen.
“I have learnt a lot from this experience.You should never give up on little ones and say no they can’t make it.
Mnisi said Jazeel was one of the smallest babies he had heard of.
“When the gynaecologist called me into the theatre when she was born, we were most surprised as she weighed less than 400g.
“The fact that she is a little girl gave her a better chance of survival because female micro-prem babies generally tend to do better than male ones.”
Anina Klut, a shift leader at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, said Jazeel had become a firm favourite with staff.
“We have never had such a small baby in our unit and we were all most concerned about her.
“She has proven to be a little ‘Wonder Woman’ and is growing each day, with lots of tender loving care from her mother.”
Meanwhile, t he SA National Blood Service has called on South Africans to become blood donors to help premature babies survive.
“About 5% of all the blood we issue goes to paediatric cases, most of which are for pre-term babies,” said Silungile Mlambo, national marketing manager forSANBS.
“Pre-ter m babies receive a product called ‘whole blood fresh’, which is not separated into its components and is always filtered and irradiated before being issued.”
“Pre-term babies naturally also get small doses.”