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

Premature newborn tiny as a banknote, defying medical expectations with remarkable resilience.

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.

Baby Who Was Born Smaller Than A Bank Note Defies Doctors' Expectations | Stay at Home Mum

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.

Baby Who Was Born Smaller Than A Bank Note Defies Doctors' Expectations | Stay at Home Mum

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.

Baby Who Was Born Smaller Than A Bank Note Defies Doctors' Expectations | Stay at Home Mum

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

author avatar
Clare Whitfield Chief Editor
Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

Discover more from Stay at Home Mum

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email

Recent comments

Discover more from Stay at Home Mum

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading