Dr Lê Xuân Trác from the Centre for Neonatal Care tends to the infant. — Photo nhandan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Once small enough to fit in the palm of an adult's hand and forced to battle chronic lung disease, a baby born at just 26 weeks of gestation has overcome extraordinary odds to survive and thrive.

Watching her daughter smile brightly on International Children's Day on June 1, Linh (not her real name), a mother from Hà Nội’s Xuân Đỉnh Ward, still becomes emotional when recalling her child's fight for life from the very first days after birth.

Few would imagine that the cheerful little girl in her mother's arms today was once an extremely premature infant born at 26 weeks, so tiny that she could fit in an adult's hand.

Immediately after birth, baby Dứa (pineapple) was transferred to the Centre for Neonatal Care at the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology for intensive care and resuscitation.

Recalling that difficult period, Linh said: "I didn't even have a chance to hold my baby before she was taken to the Centre for Neonatal Care. There were days when all I could do was wait for a call from the doctors.”

“Just hearing that she was a little more stable or had gained a few dozen grams was enough to bring me relief."

Throughout her daughter's treatment, instead of holding and caring for her baby like other mothers, Linh regularly expressed breast milk and sent every precious millilitre to the hospital, believing her daughter would pull through.

After three weeks of treatment, while the baby remained dependent on a ventilator, doctors noticed signs of damage caused by chronic lung disease.

An ultrasound examination revealed a large patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), a congenital hole in an artery, that measured about 3mm and significantly affected the infant's circulation.

According to Neonatal Centre specialist Dr Trần Diệp Hà, despite intensive medical treatment, the baby's condition did not improve as expected.

"If intervention had been delayed, the infant would have faced a high risk of worsening lung damage, prolonged ventilator dependence, pulmonary hypertension, heart failure and other serious complications," Hà said.

However, performing surgery on a baby weighing only about 950g is an enormous challenge.

Doctors of the Neonatal Centre consulted specialists from Hà Nội Heart Hospital and agreed to perform a surgery to close the patent ductus arteriosus.

The operation was successful and marked a major turning point in the infant's recovery.

Just two days later, she was taken off mechanical ventilation, and one week afterward antibiotics were discontinued. Her respiratory condition improved significantly, and she gradually transitioned to full oral feeding.

Hà described Dứa as "a true warrior".

She said: "What makes us happiest is watching her overcome difficulties day by day, recover and continue to develop well. Every premature baby who returns home healthy is a tremendous source of joy and motivation for our medical team.”

After more than three months of treatment and care, Dứa was discharged from hospital weighing 2.1kg.

During a follow-up examination held around this year's International Children's Day, doctors found that her health was stable and that she was continuing to develop well.

Holding her daughter in her arms, Linh struggled to contain her emotions.

"There were times when I lived in constant anxiety and could only pray that my daughter would remain strong enough to pull through," she said.

"Today, seeing her healthy and developing like other children, my family is deeply grateful to the doctors and nurses at the Centre for Neonatal Care who cared for her and never gave up on her during her most fragile days."

Dứa's journey is the story of an extremely premature infant overcoming the boundary between life and death, but it is also a testament to the effectiveness of multidisciplinary and inter-hospital cooperation in treating premature and extremely low birth-weight newborns. — VNS