Miracle of Baby Aaliyah (12 OUNCES at Birth!)

Sky News ^ | 6-20-03

[cgk]

MIRACLE OF BABY AALIYAH

The mother of what is believed to be Britain's smallest baby today hailed her "miracle" daughter for defying doctors' expectations that she would not survive.

Aaliyah Hart was born at City Hospital, Birmingham, three months prematurely and weighing just 12oz.

She is small enough for her mother Lorraine to hold her in the palm of her hand.

Prior to Aaliyah's birth on May 27, Britain's smallest surviving baby was 15oz Dylan Coles, born in Liverpool in 2001.

Mrs Hart, a 37-year-old social worker, said doctors warned her that Aaliyah had only a 10% chance of pulling through.

Describing the moment when she gave birth, Mrs Hart - herself only 5ft, 1in - said: "I literally just cried and cried.

"I could not believe that something so small could survive.

"She was so tiny but she was so active. Her hands were going, she was her own little person and I cried for a long time.

	Proud Mum: Delighted Mrs Hart

"She was surviving - that was my main concern."

Mrs Hart had been trying for a baby for 15 years without success.

She and husband Ricardo, 30, decided to continue with the pregnancy despite predictions that the baby may not survived beyond birth.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Jeff Bissenden said: "I have been a consultant paediatrician since 1980 and I've never seen a baby that size survive.

"Usually, they are miscarriages but she (Mrs Hart) pushed out this little girl who wriggled around, waved her legs and said 'I want to live'."

Dr Bissenden said hospital staff were also amazed at how little care Aaliyah needed, having come off a life support machine two days after her birth.

[jwh_Denver]

She is really a very cute baby girl, and even cynical my hubby is impressed!

I love your heart! And when I saw the picture I was touched by how tiny that little girl is. But there is no way that baby is cute!

[jwalsh07]

God bless you and your tiny baby Mrs Hart.

[DLfromthedesert]

This is why Roe v Wade MUST be overturned. Babies are people too.

[Mr. Silverback]

Awesome! Thanks for the ping!

[Mr. Silverback]

ProLife Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[Mr. Silverback]

Usually kids born weeks after this spend a long time on life support, and she's off in two days. Amazing!

God is good all the time.

[mlmr]

She is very very cute.

[tallhappy]

More quotes: She said: "When we saw the scans, her heart rate was still going and I said to myself, 'I cannot terminate, I cannot terminate.'"

From BBC article on her

Such a horrible euphemism -- terminate. Or maybe perfectly apt on second thought.

[Vic3O3]

baby ping!

[sweetliberty]

"They offered me a termination, but while her heart was still beating I was not giving up hope."

That's their answer to everything isn't it?

[Aquinasfan]

"They offered me a termination, but while her heart was still beating I was not giving up hope."

That was so kind of the merchants of death. At least they didn't make it an offer she couldn't refuse.

[admiralsn]

bump

[admiralsn]

I just found this story and had to tell you our story. Our special baby was born a little over 2 years ago- 11 weeks early (at 29 gestational weeks) and weighing 2 lb. 2 oz. That's 34 oz., which is a far cry from 12 oz., but it was scary nonetheless. When I found out that my wife would be giving birth early, and that the baby weighed only about two pounds, I freaked. (We lost a baby at 29 weeks just a year before.) To make a long story short, she is perfectly fine and healthy today, praise be to God.

The wonderful team of nurses and doctors at the hospital in Houston where she was born are a large reason why she is here today. She was in a 'pod' of four babies where she received round-the-clock care for the 6 weeks she was there (which was a shorter period than expected.) We found it odd that they kept calling our baby the "big" baby. Then we found out that the other three babies in her pod were 12, 13, and 15 oz. When they were born!! And they survived! Now, we lost track of the 12 ouncer and we know that he had some brain problems and had to transfer to another hospital. His prognosis didn't sound good. But we have kept in touch with the other two and they are doing well, considering. They have some physical and mental problems, but they are in loving, caring families. They survived!

This article makes the comment that a 2 lb. 2 oz. baby would not have been expected to survive just 10 years ago. Imagine how that makes us feel. One of the things that enabled our baby to breathe on her own within 24 hours was a drug called surfactant that was approved by the FDA only 10 years ago. I don't remember the details, but I remember the doctor telling us that this drug has something to do with the lining of a cow's lungs. I don't know how they found out about it, and I can only imagine who had the thought to try it out on preemies. But to me, that is God in action.

I read many of your stories in this thread and they brightened my day. The story of baby Aaliyah made my day. I just wanted to share one more miracle with you. Thank you for permitting me to brag a little.

[Happygal]

A cousin of mine had a baby who was exactly 1 lb at birth.

The baby is now a wirey little eight year old.
Still small in stature, but as healthy (and stubborn) as they come!

Thank God.! :-)

[Alamo-Girl]

Praise God!!! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful story!

[sweetliberty]

What a blessing your miracle baby is. Congratulations!

When I was in college I had a friend who was a neonatal ICU nurse and she was always telling stories about these babies. If you are really interested in following what happened with the other babies, it is my understanding that hospital neonatal units often host reunions for their preemies. You might contact the hospital where your baby was born to see if they have such a program.

[kayak]

Thank your for telling us your story so that we could rejoice with you. Praise the Lord!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I was born at 32 weeks, 3 lbs... the greatest difficulty for me was the underdeveloped lungs. Touch and go for two months, but then I thrived. My brother was smaller, 2 lbs, 12 oz. My mother had one stillborn child and five premature babies. After her sixth pregnancy, the doctors determined that more than likely the placentas were underdeveloped, and thus birth was triggered at an earlier stage. The doctors believed that we were being starved of nutrition, and that this is why birth happened prematurely each time. Not being a physician, I cannot vouch for this.

[admiralsn]

We have attended both reunions so far, and plan to attend them foirever. It is my goal to make sure that she understands just what her odds were, and how she got where she is. It brought tears to my eyes at the first reunion we attended when I saw a healthy teenaged girl with a name tag that said "3lb. 7oz."

[admiralsn]

Your mother is a strong courageous woman to continue bringing beautiful babies into the world in spite of the obstacles in front of her.