‘Small wonder’ to be back home after four months in hospital

A palm-sized pre-term baby, who was airlifted from Lucknow to New Delhi barely hours after birth, is ready to come back home after spending four months at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the national capital.

Born at 26 weeks (10 weeks before a full-term pregnancy), the baby weighing just 600 gm at that time now weighs 2.6 kgs.

“Doctors say the complications are over and we can take her back to Lucknow later this week,” said Atul Rastogi, the father of the child that became the lightest pre-term baby to be airlifted to Sir Gangaram Hospital.

For four months both Atul and his wife Priyanka had a tough time dealing with the medical intricacies almost every hour. Born on July 10, the child developed complications and was airlifted in a mini ICU set up in the aircraft with an onboard incubator, ventilator and monitoring system.

“The delivery happened all of a sudden and doctors gave us just an hour to arrange for a ventilator owing to complications in delivery,” said Atul on phone from Delhi.

Sustaining flight pressure, noise, vibration, low tempera- ture, sudden accelerations and decelerations kept doctors worried while taking the child to New Delhi.

“Every second counted for her life in the three-hour journey from the Lucknow hospital to the airport and then from the New Delhi airport to the hospital. It’s a blessing, looking at her today,” said Atul who has spent day and night waiting outside the ICU in the New Delhi hospital, leaving his business behind.

As in most pre-term babies, there were complications in this child too. Most of her organs were underdeveloped and doctors were especially worried about the eyes and lungs. “Doctors made me sign a consent form, stating if anything goes wrong it’s my responsibility. But I had decided to go to any extent to save my child,” said Atul.

The doctors treated her for the underdeveloped intestine and lungs. “We could not even hold her in our hands when she was born. Those days are over now and we shall soon bring her to family,” said a happy father.

Approximately 15 million babies are born pre-term each year, accounting for about one in 10 of all babies born worldwide. India accounts for 23.6% of preterm births globally, the highest in the world.