A new mother shared how her premature baby survived after he was born premature at 23 weeks and six days. The baby boy was so tiny that the neonatal care staff had to transport him to an incubator in a plastic sack the size of a pencil case.
Christina Hahn, from Chincoteague Island, Virginia, USA, gave birth to her son Markcus Cropper Jr., who weighed a mere 1lb 10.1oz. He measured just 7.8” long.
How their premature baby survived
Baby Markcus is now five months old with a weight of 12lbs at the time of this writing.
Hahn shared photos of how her premature baby survived.
“It was so so scary giving birth and then asking 'Is he dead?' He was just so so small,” she said.
“At lots of points we both thought that we would lose him and he pulled through — it was a miracle.”
A two hour drive
The average length of pregnancy, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is 38 weeks. The 27-year-old mother’s water unexpectedly broke at just 23 weeks. She was immediately rushed to a hospital in Chincoteague.
However, the hospital told the Hahn that they could not admit her until she was 24 weeks along. She had to go to a special neonatal facility in Norfolk, the Children's Hospital of The King’s Daughter, which was a two-hour drive away.
Neonatal teams warned Hahn and the baby’s father, 20-year-old Markcus Sr., that it's likely that their baby might not survive.
"The first thing I said was 'Is he alive?' because it was so scary," Hahn said when she recalled the moment she gave birth.
"It was weird seeing him in the bag — but it kept him from getting hypothermia. That was only a short time until he was put in an incubator cot."
Image source: Christina Hahn/SWNS
Neonatal care unit
Baby Markcus was born on July 23, 2017, and was supposedly due for a November 13 birthdate. Medical staff kept the baby in the hospital’s neonatal care unit for 81 days, while his parents visited him for 12 hours daily.
Doctors had to require a series of steroid shots for Marckus Jr. to help his underdeveloped lungs to work properly.
Almost seven months later, proud mother Hahn shared a series of photos showing how her baby survived the ordeal.
“We are so lucky, a lot of other parents have the heartbreak of going through a lot of other operations with heart defects and things,” Hahn said.
”Markcus is adorable, I am so proud of him — he's my little fighter.“
Image source: Christina Hahn/SWNS
Premature baby survival rate
The NIH data revealed that the survival rate for premature babies has increased to 65% over recent years.
Hahn recalled what the neonatal team told her two days before she gave birth. They said that “due to the age of gestation it was only 50 percent survival rates outside the womb for Markcus."
Marckus Jr. is healthy now, apart from a potential hearing issue in his right ear.
YOU CAN ALSO READ: Grow your baby in your living room – a look at artificial wombs.
Republished with permission from: theAsianParent Singapore
