Today both the mother and the child are healthy, and the doctors took advantage of the today's press conference for an appeal for new personnel and equipment.
In the beginning of the year the 30-year-old woman got flu in 23rd week of pregnancy, and over the next few days, her lungs failed. As the Ljubljana University Medical Centre is the only one equipped for ECMO procedure, their colleagues from Maribor asked for their help, explained the assistant of the head of the Clinical Department for Internal Intensive Medicine at the Internal Clinic of the Ljubljana University Medical Centre Vojka Gorjup, one of the two doctors who were taken by helicopter to Maribor to help the pregnant woman. By the way, the insurance company has not acknowledged the expense yet...
They got ready and took off within one hour. They managed to attach the patient to ECMO, in spite of some problems due to large bore canullas, and took her to Ljubljana in an ambulance. They decided against a Caesarean section, and chose to wait for as long as possible.
No consequences for the baby girl
The delivery started after 16 days, with the help of a number of doctors from different fields, from internists to obstetricians. The baby girl weighing 820 grams was born naturally, although the mother was not conscious.
When the mother woke up she learned that her baby girl was already more than two weeks old; they met for the first time on March 8. "Everybody cried at that time, it was a very touching moment," said the head of the Neonatal Intensive Care and Therapy Unit of the Clinical Department of Perinatology at the Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology Lilijana Kornhauser Cerar.
The mother and the baby girl were today introduced to journalists. The baby girl is now seven months old, and is doing well. She is out of the hospital, but still breathes with the help of a portable oxygen cylinder. No consequences are expected by experts because of her premature birth, and she should catch up with her peers approximately at the age of three years. And as her mother said today, they must thank the medical team for being there.
T. H.
Translated by G. K.
