Tiny twin miracles-Born at barely 24 weeks, it may smallest twins to survive in India

Jivanta Neonatal ICU-indiaprime

UDAIPUR – Born weighing 600 grams and 620 grams , the Chinta Devi twin girls tale of survival is an extraordinary one. The micro-preemie, who were born prematurely at just 24 weeks of gestation [ Five and half months] and , fought for four months to survive a stormy course in the neonatal ICU of Jivanta Children’s Hospital , Udaipur are among the smallest twins ever survived in India.
Born to couple Chinta Devi and Chandeshwar Ram from Motihari, Bihar married for 21 years and conceived after IVF technique at Neelkanth Fertility Centre , Udaipur. “ She had uncontrolled blood pressure , gestational diabetes and started bleeding at 24 weeks of her pregnancy .As the survival of babies was getting compromised was taken up for emergency caesarean section”- said Dr Simi Sood . Twin girl babies were born weighing just 600 grams and 620gms at birth on 25th October 2017. These twins were barely larger than a human hand and were very precious and the only hope for the family .They required artificial breathing support to regularize her breathing and then quickly transferred to Jivanta neonatal ICU.

smallest twins to survive in India-indiaprime
These tiny twins were managed & looked after at Jivanta Neonatal ICU under precise care of Neonatologist Dr. Sunil Janged, Dr. Nikhilesh Nain & trained nursing staff. At beginning babies were struggling to breathe , so were put on ventilator & given surfactant to expand tiny immature lungs. Babies had infection in blood, heart functions and pumping was poor . Baby also had large connection between two major vessels [ patent ductus arteriosus], which was closed with medicines. Their gut was immature & could not be fed, so babies were put on TPN which means giving all essential nutrients such as protein, carbohydrate by blood. To get Venous access umbilical lines were put. Such babies losses water very quickly through their parchment like skin & their weight drops down further. Regular screening of heart & brain were performed to rule out any bleeding in brain. Due to brain immaturity baby used to forget to breathe , we call it as apnea of prematurity. Babies required ventilatory support for 80 days and multiple blood transfusions.

In all he was in NICU for 115 days, on discharge their weight was 2 Kg and 1.94kg . By far their progress in NICU is satisfactory, Brain is structurally normal, eyes are developing normally.
It was long & tough journey for me & my team . At the best of centres, only 30% of such babies born this early survive. Most doctors do not even attempt to save such babies, as the possibility of healthy survival is low. It is the latest technology, high end expertise of our NICU team, which has pulled this off ” said Dr. Sunil Janged , Chief Neonatologist at Jivanta Children Hospital.
“All this would not have been possible without the support of Doctors and Jivanta management team. It was not possible for us to bear hospital expenses as we belong from low income family from Bihar. The hospital waived 50% of the treatment’s cost to send a ‘pro-girl tolerance’ message to the society’-echoed the proud father, Chandeshwar Ram.
Dr Pradeep Suryawanshi [Senior Neonatologist from Pune] added, “ The existing record for smallest twins to survive in India is from Kerala – twin girls weighing 452 gm and 500 gm. Baby born this small have extremely poor function of all body organs & all of them need support for survival . This is where skilled & dedicated Neonatologist & Nursing staff is required, as the margin of error is close to zero. Problems related to any single system can singularly kill the baby & only 5-10% survive without brain damage.”

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