Gurugram, A baby girl who was born at just 27 weeks of gestation, intead of a full-term pregnancy has overcome a series of life-threatening complications to return home after nearly two months in intensive neonatal care, hospital officials said on Saturday.
She subsequently required inotropes to support her blood pressure, antibiotics guided by blood culture and sensitivity reports, and transfusions of fresh frozen plasma, packed red blood cells and platelets. In Baby Nikki’s case, we had to manage severe respiratory distress, infection, circulatory instability, coagulation abnormalities and pulmonary haemorrhage while continuing to support her growth and development. He added that as part of this developmental care approach, Octopus Therapy was also used during Nikki’s NICU stay.
Nikki, who was born weighing 900 grams at a gurugram based private hospital, was discharged in a stable condition after a challenging NICU journey that tested her respiratory, circulatory and overall health, they said. Soon after birth, Nikki developed severe respiratory distress syndrome due to lung immaturity and surfactant deficiency. Because their organs are still immature, speaking during a press conference here, Dr Amitava Sengupta of Paras Health said, “Extremely preterm babies can develop complications across multiple organ systems. A soft, yarn-made octopus was kept close to her in the incubator after being placed near her mother so that it carried her familiar scent.
A chest X-ray showed extensive lung involvement, following which she was immediately placed on mechanical ventilation and given surfactant replacement therapy, spokesperson of Gurugram’s Paras Health said. As her respiratory condition was being stabilised, she developed early-onset sepsis, which progressed to severe shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation , according to the hospital. Her condition was further complicated by episodes of pulmonary haemorrhage during the DIC phase, they said.
