MUM ON VENTILATOR DELIVERS MIRACLE BABY
MUM RECOVERS IN 2 WEEKS, NEWBORN IS DISCHARGED FROM ICU AFTER 99 DAYS
Sri Lankan Fathima Shafa, 24, lay intubated as Dubai doctors delivered 600gm baby girl through C-section. Here’s the inside story of how skill and resilience saved two lives |
In a miraculous intervention, doctors at a private hospital in Dubai enabled a critical Covid-19 patient to deliver a baby at just 24 weeks of her pregnancy, even as she battled for her life on the ventilator.
When Aiza, the 600 gram baby, was delivered through C Section at the Mediclinic Parkview Hospital in Al Barsha, her Sri Lankan mother Fathima Shafa, 24, who lay sedated and intubated, remained clueless.
While the mother managed to turn the corner in 10 days, her daughter had to stay back in the ICU for 99 days. But all’s well that ends well as the little one, who now weighs 2.45kg, was finally discharged on Monday.
For Fathima and her 33-yearold husband Mohammad Ziyan, who works with a coffee chain, the homecoming was a miracle.
Worldwide data shows that while only two per cent of babies become Covid-19 positive when the mother is positive, the chances of a Covid-19 positive mum delivering a premature baby goes up by 13 per cent, up from 10 per cent otherwise.”
Dr Mudit Kumar | Consultant neonatologist at Mediclinic Parkview Hospital
When the nightmare began
“We’ve been through the worst nightmare, but are out of it now, thanks to the doctors who treated me and Aiza,” Fathima told Gulf News on Wednesday.
She said she could never have imagined she would go through such an ordeal. “My husband has been in Dubai since 2012. I joined him in December last year. Life was good and I was carrying our first child. But in June, I took ill. … I could hardly breathe. We went to a private hospital where the doctor put me on antibiotics for five days. But the symptoms only got worse and when we went back to the hospital this time, I was admitted.”
Fathima said a PCR test revealed that she was Covid-19
positive. Over the next couple of days, her condition became critical and she had to be put on the ventilator.
Test for patient and doctors alike
Further investigations showed she had developed severe Covid pneumonia. “At this stage, the hospital sought help to shift me to another hospital as I required advanced ventilation on an ECMO machine.”
Fathima was then transferred to Mediclinic Parkview.
What ensued was as much a test for the young mother and her unborn child as it was for the team of doctors attending to them.
As Dr Mudit Kumar, consultant neonatologist and head of the NICU at Mediclinic Parkview Hospital, explained, “The patient, who was intubated and on the ventilator, was brought here when she was 24 weeks pregnant. The dilemma before us was whether we should prolong her pregnancy by another week so the chances
of the baby’s survival would go up, or initiate an immediate C Section as any delay could cost the mother her life.”
The emergency at hand required quick decision-making based on the assessment of a multidisciplinary team. “We decided to go ahead with the baby’s delivery in the best interest of the mother. A C Section was done on the patient on the second day that she was admitted. It was very tricky given the mother’s condition and the extreme prematurity of the baby.
When the baby finally arrived, she weighed only 600 grams. She was also immediately put on the ventilator.”
Baby tests negative for Covid-19
But as luck would have it, the newborn tested negative for Covid-19. Dr Kumar said: “Worldwide data shows that while only two per cent of babies become Covid-19 positive when the mother is positive, the chances of a Covid-19 positive mum delivering a premature baby goes up by 13 per cent, up from 10 per cent otherwise.”
The child, however, had breathing difficulties and remained on the ventilator for a few days. By now, Fathima did not need advanced ventilation and was extubated. A lower level of respiratory support continued, but she was ready for discharge within two weeks.
The case was one of the most complicated cases that the unit had handled. Dr Aisha Alzouebi, the consultant obstetrician, said: “It was extremely challenging from a planning and technical point of view. Being in the second trimester, the uterus was not prepared for delivery. In order to save the mother’s life, delivering such a small baby needed the best anaesthetists and neonatologists.”