Kenyan couple’s joy as ‘miracle’ premature baby defies odds
The mother of a “miracle” baby girl now thriving at home after being born at barely 23 weeks into the pregnancy has urged parents facing similar challenges not to lose hope.
Shaniqua Eve Mukasa weighed half a kilogram and was given a 50 per cent chance of survival when born in July.
She spent 104 days at Aster Hospital – Mankhool in Dubai, before being allowed home at the end of October.
“It was a miracle,” her mother, Winnie Atieno Muga, 32, a Kenyan receptionist at a company in Dubai, told The National. “After a lot of prayers, a lot of sleepless nights, my baby is living with us at our home.
“We are blessed to have her here right now, after we were almost without hope.”
After Shaniqua’s birth on July 10, Ms Muga and her husband Edgar Mukasa, also from Kenya, longed for the day they could bring their child home.
Ms Muga recalled the traumatic experience of going to hospital after bleeding.
“I was told that I was about to deliver. I was only 23 weeks and six days into my pregnancy,” she said.
“It was a normal birth but I couldn’t see my baby until the next day, as she wasn’t crying or breathing and they took her to the intensive care unit.”
The parents were scared as the survival rate for babies born at 23 weeks is about 50 per cent. “I didn’t think she would survive,” Ms Muga said.
Mr Mukasa, 40, praised the medical staff. “With the amazing help of hospital staff – and our prayers – my baby survived and is living with us.”
Dr Santhosh George, paediatrics and neonatology specialist at the hospital, said Shaniqua’s fragile state posed significant challenges.
“Baby Shaniqua defied the odds after being born at an exceptionally early gestation of 23 weeks and six days, weighing a mere 537g,” Dr George said.
“Shaniqua remains neurologically intact and unlikely to have long-term consequences.”
Shaniqua’s Kenyan name means “gift of God”, and her parents now want her story to help others. “There is no hopeless situation with a premature baby,” Ms Muga said.