Baby Who Was Born Smaller Than A Bank Note Defies Doctors’ Expectations

A baby who was smaller than a £10 bank note when she was born at 23 weeks has defied doctors’ expectations and is now thriving.

Mum Zoe Ambrose, 30, from Greenhithe, Kent in the UK, didn’t know she was pregnant until ten days before she gave birth to her daughter, Paige, at only 23 weeks.

She said she was shocked when she found out she was pregnant since she wasn’t showing and there were no signs.

“I was on the pill but my periods were often irregular. It was only when I moved house and visited my new GP that I found out I was pregnant. I was shocked,” she said, adding that she was even more stunned to discover she was 22 weeks gone.

She and her partner Arnie Fowler, 25, started buying things for their baby ahead of their due date on November 27, 2015, but in August, Zoe began to bleed at work, and Arnie rushed her to hospital, where Zoe was told that her baby only had a 25% chance of survival.

A paediatrician told Zoe that the legal abortion limit was 24 weeks and the hospital would not try to save her baby but would relieve any suffering. “I remember him saying that unless she comes out trying to breathe, they would not resuscitate her. I burst into tears and begged him to do something,” Zoe said.

According to NHS guidelines, at 23 weeks there is a high level of uncertainty about the outcome for a baby, and lifesaving treatment is offered only if parents ask for it and the paediatrician feels it is appropriate.

Zoe endured a seven-hour labour before she gave birth to Paige, who only weighed 595.3 grams or 1lb 5oz at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, in August 2015.

“I was so worried she wouldn’t survive. I prepared for the worst.

“She was so small, doctors didn’t even know her sex. I had to give birth in a bag to keep her warm,” Zoe said.

Baby Paige was then transferred to Gillingham’s Medway Hospital for specialist care and since then, she was moved to different hospitals, including Medway, King’s College, Great Ormond Street and Darent Valley for more than four months.

In her first few days, she had a haemorrhage in her lungs and a bleed on the brain. She was diagnosed as partially sighted in one eye and, at just three weeks old, had to undergo stomach surgery.

“I felt so helpless. I couldn’t let my little girl die without a fight. I sat by her every day, willing her to pull through,” Zoe said.

But through all these, Paige continued to fight and, incredibly, she was discharged on December 16, 2015.

The amazing little girl still needs daily hormone treatment and has an underactive thyroid but she is regularly checked over by doctors.

This year, Zoe says Paige will be off the oxygen. Although, she says Paige is diabetic and will always be checked for her eyesight, she is positive of Paige’s life ahead.

“Paige will always suffer with diabetes and tests for her eyes are ongoing, but she is expected to live a long and full life.

“She is everything to us and the thought that when I first saw her she was as tiny as a £10 note still amazes me.

“We didn’t know that Paige was coming, but now she’s here we are so grateful for our little miracle,” she said.

Now, 20 months on, Paige is enjoying life at home like any other baby her age.

Source: Au.news.yahoo.com