Baby born mid-air goes home in Hyderabad
Infant had turned blue, mom held on to hope.
Hyderabad: Haven, a baby who was born on a Cebu Pacific Air flight on August 14, has recovered after 20 days of treatment at the Apollo Cradle hospital.
The infant had turned blue and cold by the time the medical team received her at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. Born at 32 weeks, her lungs were closed.
Mrs Holiday, the 33-year-old mother who was flying from Dubai said, “I was confident that the child would be saved as the flight was immediately diverted and there was a sense of emergency shown by the airline staff. I was positive throughout and once my mother and I landed here, we just left it to the doctors.”
Dr C.V.S. Lakshmi, chief neonatologist at the hospital said, “The baby was pre-term and was born at 32 weeks weighing only 1.6 kg. We were alerted by the airport authorities before the flight landed. Hence the team was prepared to receive the child. The first thing done was to secure the baby’s airway support by putting her on transport incubator and ventilator support so that her breathing was brought to normal.”
At the hospital, she was kept under ventilation support for the next 48 hours. The baby was under constant medical supervision and once the vital organs showed signs of revival and improvement, breast feeding was started.
The baby is now 35-weeks-old and ready to fly home. Mrs. Holiday is returning on Thursday and a paediatrician will accompany her to supervise the baby’s condition during the flight.