Mother's good-bye saves her baby! (absolutely amazing story - with photos)

Salesians ^ | August 27, 2009 | Padre Steve

[NYer]

This is a miracle and an amazing story! Thanks to the milk of human kindness on this one:

When Carolyn Isbister put her 20oz baby on her chest for a cuddle, she thought that it would be the only chance she would ever have to hold her.

Doctors had told the parents that baby Rachel only had only minutes to live because her heart was beating once every ten seconds and she was not breathing.

Isbister remembers:

I didn’t want her to die being cold. So I lifted her out of her blanket and put her against my skin to warm her up. Her feet were so cold.

It was the only cuddle I was going to have with her, so I wanted to remember the moment.” Then something remarkable happened. The warmth of her mother’s skin kick started Rachael’s heart into beating properly, which allowed her to take little breaths of her own.

We couldn’t believe it – and neither could the doctors. She let out a tiny cry.

The doctors came in and said there was still no hope – but I wasn’t letting go of her. We had her blessed by the hospital chaplain, and waited for her to slip away. But she still hung on.

And then amazingly the pink color began to return to her cheeks. She literally was turning from gray to pink before our eyes, and she began to warm up too.

The sad part is that when the baby was born, doctors took one look at her and said ‘no’.

They didn’t even try to help her with her breathing as they said it would just prolong her dying. Everyone just gave up on her,” her mom remembered.

At 24 weeks a womb infection had led to her premature labor and birth and Isbister (who also has two children Samuel, 10, and Kirsten, 8 ) said, “We were terrified we were going to lose her. I had suffered three miscarriages before, so we didn’t think there was much hope.” When Rachael was born she was grey and lifeless.

Ian Laing, a consultant neonatologist at the hospital, said: “All the signs were that the little one was not going to make it and we took the decision to let mum have a cuddle as it was all we could do.

Two hours later the wee thing was crying. This is indeed a miracle baby and I have seen nothing like it in my 27 years of practice. I have not the slightest doubt that mother’s love saved her daughter.”

Rachael was moved onto a ventilator where she continued to make steady progress and was tube and syringe fed her mother’s pumped breastmilk.

Isbister said, “The doctors said that she had proved she was a fighter and that she now deserved some intensive care as there was some hope. She had done it all on her own – without any medical intervention or drugs. She had clung on to life – and it was all because of that cuddle. It had warmed up her body and regulated her heart and breathing enough for her to start fighting.

At 5 weeks she was taken off the ventilator and began breastfeeding on her own. At four months Rachel went home with her parents, weighing 8lbs – the same as any other healthy newborn. Because Rachel had suffered from a lack of oxygen doctors said there was a high risk of damage to her brain. But a scan showed no evidence of any problems and today Rachel is on par with her peers.

Rachel’s mom tells us, “She is doing so well. When we brought her home, the doctors told us that she was a remarkable little girl. And most of all, she just loves her cuddles. She will sleep for hours, just curled into my chest. It was that first cuddle which saved her life – and I’m just so glad I trusted my instinct and picked her up when I did. Otherwise she wouldn’t be here today.”

When a parent holds their baby on their chest, skin-to-skin, it is referred to as Kangaroo Mother Care.

The benefits for all babies of KMC are that they stabilize faster with skin-to-skin care than in an incubator (very few stabilize in an incubator well during the first six hours of life). KMC babies also have stable oxygen rates and breathing thanks to the steady regulation of Mother’s respiration. The heart rate is stable (mother’s heartbeat regulates baby’s heartbeat). The temperature is most stable on the mother – in skin-to-skin care mothers chest automatically warms to warm a cold baby, and mothers core temperature drops if her baby has a temperature.

Sleeping within an arm’s reach of baby (as long as a parent does not smoke) also regulates all of his physiological needs in the same way ~ they are kept steady thanks to Mom’s warm, even-paced body. We lose far fewer babies to prematurity, irregularity of breathing or heartbeat after birth, and SIDS all with the natural help of skin-to-skin holding, or Kangaroo Care.

Read More About skin-to-skin benefits for ALL babies (full term and premature) here: kangaroomothercare.com

[bvw]

Wonderful story!

[NYer]

Works well for babies that are not premature. My daughter used to scream with colic. One night I fell asleep with her in my arms. It was the first night either one of got any sleep.

[mountn man]

WWOD?

What Would Obama Do?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Blurry screen. Have to go call my Mom and thank her again for those 40 hours of labor and the breech birth she endured for me. *SNIF*

[yarddog]

That is interesting. I remember our second Daughter had colic and the only thing which seemed to soothe her was when her Mother put her on her stomach.

[353FMG]

>>The sad part is that when the baby was born, doctors took one look at her and said ‘no’.<<

.
Sounds like a story from ObamaCare.

[bgill]

Too bad some doctors can’t see past their books to use common sense.

[pillut48]

This part REALLY bothers me! >:-(

“The doctors said that she had proved she was a fighter and that she now deserved some intensive care..."

Babies having to PROVE they are worthy of life-saving procedures?!?!

Let me guess--NHS?!? >:-(

BTW, this child is the kind of child HolyO voted AGAINST saving with the botched abortion bill--SHAME ON HIM. >:-(

[fullchroma]

Where, sniff, is my box of tissues? Thanks for posting.

[KungFuBrad]

I checked this out with a simple bing search. She is most definatly from the UK. This is exactly the kind of health care Obama wants for us. Why spend any money trying to save the little baby. She is just not worth it.

[BornToBeAmerican]

Thank you for this wonderful post. It made my good day so much better. While there is life there is hope.

[Fantasywriter]

Where did this take place? I read the whole article and can’t find a city, state, or any other indication of where it happened.

[Fantasywriter]

Never mind. Somebody posted that it’s from the UK. It sounded like a UK story, but I wanted to be sure.

[lefty-lie-spy]

That is so awesome. Lovely story.

[housemouse 1]

“Where, sniff, is my box of tissues? Thanks for posting”

me too, love great stories of survial and happy endings, great post.

[My Favorite Headache]

Question of the day right there.

[Auntie Dem]

She is most definatly from the UK. This is exactly the kind of health care Obama wants for us.

Does this mean that because the government wasn't willing to spend any money on keeping her alive that this child doesn't have to pay income taxes when she grows up?

Since the government wasn't willing to "invest" in a future taxpayer they should forfeit the right to collect any taxes from her. (Like that will ever happen)

[dsc]

Yeah, this is the way we raised all six of ours.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

“The doctors said that she had proved she was a fighter and that she now deserved some intensive care..."

But the doctor was thinking, "This preemie was going to cost us a whole lot of money, but now a lawsuit might cost a whole lot more..."