Despite the impossible odds stacked against her, a young girl born in India weighing less than a chocolate bar has managed to survive.
Manushi weighed only 14 ounces at the time of her birth at 28 weeks, and her foot was the size of her father’s thumbnail. Manushi is six months old now.
When her mother became ill, and her life was in danger, she decided to deliver the baby via emergency caesarean section.
She was only 8.6 inches long and had underdeveloped lungs, heart, brain, kidneys, and paper-thin skin.
She will be discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit at Jivanta Children’s Hospital in India, where she has been a patient for the past six months. Her release date is set for the following week.
She’s kept a healthy weight of 5.2 pounds.
Her mother, Seeta, is 48 years old, and her father, Giriraj, is 50 years old and from Rajasthan, India. They both refer to her as their miracle.
Arwen, according to Seeta, “continued battling and fighting and fighting against all of the challenges, but she made it.”
Seeta had dangerously high blood pressure during her pregnancy, and an examination at 28 weeks revealed insufficient blood supply to the placenta.
On June 15, the medical staff decided to conduct an emergency caesarean section, after which Manushi was placed on a ventilator and brought to the intensive care unit.
Her chances of survival were assessed to be less than 0.5 per cent.
Dr Sunil Janged, the hospital’s head neonatologist, remarked, “when the baby was born, we had no idea what could happen.”
Because she was having difficulty breathing, she was immediately placed on an advanced respiratory support ventilator to expand her developing lungs.
She was unable to be fed adequately due to the immaturity of her intestines.
“We had no choice except to start the infant on total parenteral feeding,” effectively injecting all necessary nutrients directly into the bloodstream. Amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, minerals, multivitamins, and trace elements are examples of nutrition.
After seven weeks, Manushi started consuming breast milk from her mother.
She gradually began breathing on her own, and her brain and eyes were generally developing.
“We decided to save the infant’s life and provide her with the appropriate medical treatment and attention because we wanted to send a message that a girl child must be protected,” said Dr Sunil Janged, the hospital’s director. “We provided her with the appropriate medical treatment and attention.”
People in Rajasthan, where female infanticide is rampant, must speak up and take action to end this horrific practice.
Emilia Grabarczyk, born in Witten, Germany, in 2015 and weighed only 8 ounces, is thought to be the tiniest infant ever born.
