Congrats Dr. Chetan Shetty.. We BUNTS proud of you Sir...

MUMBAI: If all goes well, Appu could well be Mumbai’s own miracle baby. He doesn’t have a name yet but the nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care

Unit (NICU) of Holy Family, Bandra, have christened him Appu. He is possibly among the youngest prematurely born babies to make it to three weeks of age anywhere in the world. He was reportedly born on December 23 while his mother was in her 23rd week of pregnancy.

Appu had a twin brother as well who passed away within 24 hours of birth. He, however, is a doughty fighter although the odds appear stacked against him. According to world statistics, less than 1% of children who are born before 23 weeks (less than six months) of pregnancy survive and may suffer severe disabilities. “I am waiting to celebrate his first month of survival,’’ says his father Amar Patil, a Borivli resident who is employed with a multinational bank.

But it will be a few more months of NICU before Appu’s story hits a happy and healthy note. On Thursday, the neonate gave his parents, doctors and nurses an anxious time as his oxygen levels plunged. Higher antibiotics, oxygen cylinders and increased vigilance are the latest prescription in Appu’s life that is measured a day at a time. Late on Thursday night, his father Amar Patil told TOI: “He is fine. The breathing problem has subsided.’’

Appu weighed 905 gm at birth and now weighs 820 gm. The neonatologist, Dr Chetan Shetty, who is managing him in the NICU, says that, “In terms of maturity of organs, I have never seen babies smaller than this.’’ Neonatologists assess newborns on three factors—weight, maturity and gestation period. “Doctors have managed to save children born with a body weight of 500 gm. Appu was born at little less than 6 months, but his weight at 900 gm helped,’’ says his doctor.

The hospital used a two-point forumla. “We didn’t go by the book and test his blood twice every day as we wanted to minimise prick points that could get infected. Secondly, we kept him in an old-fashioned incubator instead of the modern-day open air warmers as we wanted to minimise contact,’’ says Dr Shetty.

While Appu’s parents and doctors want the world to know that it’s possible to save the tiniest of babies, the medical fraternity is sceptical. Given Appu’s weight of 900 gm at birth, doctors feel he must have been more than five-and-a-half months old in the womb.

“Given his weight, it is unlikely that he was born at 23 weeks,’’ says a senior doctor who didn’t want to be named. Another doctor points out that in twin pregnancies children weighs much lesser than the normal 3-plus kg. “I can understand a single foetus at 800 gm being born at 23 weeks of pregnancy managing to survive, but a twin at 900-plus gm has to be older,’’ he says.

Says senior neonatologist Dr Bhupinder Avasti from Lilavati Hospital, “Local doctors have managed to help many premature babies weighing 500 gm. At 23 weeks, most babies would weight 400 gm. Even in the West, statistics show that only one in six born at 23 weeks have survived with all brain functions intact. If a child is born at 24 weeks, he or she would weigh 500 to 600 gm and has a 50% chance of survival,’’

Senior gynacelogist Dr Suchitra Pandit of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital says, “It is medically impossible that a 23-week foetus can weigh anything close to 800-900 gm. At the most, they can weight 450-500 gm.’’ The mother must have been at least 26-27 weeks pregnant, feels Pandit, adding that there must have been some “gross miscalculation’’ in calculation of pregnancy. Dr Pandit said that the survival rate of premature twins in a well-equipped NICU would be close to 80%.

Appu’s mother, Sarita, meanwhile is waiting for the time when she can hold her baby instead of fleetingly touching him. “I am praying to God,’’ she adds.