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Posted on 12/25/2025 7:46:07 AM PST by Morgana
A baby girl born in the family car at only 22 weeks gestation has made it home from the hospital in time for Christmas.
Baby Daleyza weighed just over one pound when she was born in the front seat of the family car on the way to the hospital. Her mother, Jazmin, was only 22 weeks pregnant when she unexpectedly went into labour and had to drive 50 miles to a hospital after she discovered the local hospital was not equipped to care for such a premature baby.
Baby Daleyza wouldn’t wait until they got to the hospital, however. She was born in the car while an emergency dispatcher gave instructions to Jazmin over the phone, including how to break the amniotic sac and perform CPR. Thankfully, paramedics arrived within minutes and performed CPR on the tiny baby using a single finger before she was rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
“The call came in at 2 am. Most of us have had labour and delivery calls, but not for someone this premature”, said Engine 6 Capt David Fike, one of the emergency personnel who attended the initial scene. “Those initial moments matter”, he added.
Janelle Beall, nurse manager at the NICU, said, “In our own controlled environment with the NICU, it can be challenging to maintain thermoregulation in extremely preterm infants. It is incredible what [the paramedics] did to get the baby here safely. It made all the difference”.
“When [the paramedics] brought the baby to our Emergency Department, the baby had a good temperature and a good chest rise”, she continued.
Baby Daleyza then spent 146 days in the NICU, cared for by a dedicated neonatologists, NICU nurses, NICU-focused dietitians, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists. Finally, after all this time and all her ups and downs, she has been allowed to go home, just in time for Christmas.
“Not all family is blood relatives. There is the family that you make and these doctors and nurses are my family”, Jazmin said of those who helped save baby Daleyza’s life. “There are no words to express how thankful we are”.
Improved survival rates for extremely premature babies
The survival rates for extremely premature babies like Daleyza have significantly improved in recent decades. A 2008 study looking at survival rates for a neonatal intensive care unit in London found that neonatal survival rates at 22 and 23 weeks gestation had improved over time. In 1981-85, no babies who were born at these gestational ages survived to discharge. However, by 1986-90, 19% did and this increased to 54% in the period 1996-2000.
In the decade to 2019 alone, the survival rate for extremely premature babies born at 23 weeks doubled, prompting new guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) that enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks gestation. The previous clinical guidance, drafted in 2008, set the standard that babies who were born before 23 weeks gestation should not be resuscitated.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is great to hear that baby Daleyza has made it home in time for Christmas after a tough 146 days in the NICU. Her story is a testament to the strength of unborn babies, and highlights the increasingly high chances of survival that extremely premature babies like her have”.
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Most of those kids have severe lung problems. A good many are permanently damaged.
“Most of those kids have severe lung problems. A good many are permanently damaged. “
I would hope that has medicine and technology improves, in the future this too won’t be a problem.
My wife has been managing kids like this for two decades as an advanced practice NICU nurse. Over that time, the threshold of maturity necessary for survival has dropped by about a week and generally speaking, the prognosis over a lifetime has become worse. A very few do well.
Most of these kids are conceived to women with serious problems (drugs and such). The vast majority are on public assistance. The cost is well over a million, each. Instead of focusing resources on attaining a lower gestational threshold, we'd help more kids live better lives with less money if we focused upon better prenatal care.
Sadly not the case.
“Most of these kids are conceived to women with serious problems (drugs and such). The vast majority are on public assistance. The cost is well over a million, each. Instead of focusing resources on attaining a lower gestational threshold, we’d help more kids live better lives with less money if we focused upon better prenatal care. “
Sounds like the mothers need to be in a Nervous Hospital while pregnant so they can’t do drugs and get prenatal care. Yea I know the dems will bellyache about that but it’s what must be done.
God Bless this sweet angel, forever!
Merry Christmas!
“Jesus’ very birth (of a virgin) transcended science, was met with resistance”
A beautiful example of the value of life. Mary saw it through and birthed our savior. One has to wonder how many amazing human beings that God sent to us, were unwanted and terminated.
That is roughly 5.75 months.
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