- Dr Kishore Kumar, Senior Consultant Neonatologist, Cloudnine
No one will believe if we say there is LIFE in it! Yes, Indian law says the viability of a foetus is 28 weeks, but lives can be saved for any premature baby born on or after 24 weeks with appropriate care. In fact, developed countries have the viability described as babies over 24 weeks – for over a decade now. But in India, I don't see this happening in the near future unless the Infant Mortality Rates (IMR) come down to acceptable single digit levels like many developed nations. Which country wants to revise their viability definition to increase the IMR?
Cloudnine has been saving babies born over 24 weeks gestation since its inception and we believe in INTACT SURVIVAL of babies and not just survival – meaning babies surviving with no disability. I am proud to say that we have saved over 125 babies born at less than 28 weeks since our inception - babies who otherwise would have been statistics in some way or the other in many places.
Ms. Rashmi Sudhindra agrees has her own story to share with us.
My story with my pregnancy, my baby and Cloudnine: We wanted to conceive and were trying to have a baby, when we read about so many things women suffer and makes it difficult to conceive. So, it was the greatest moment of joy for my husband and me when we learnt that we had conceived after suffering with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS -which makes it difficult for women to conceive) - for more than a year.
But my pregnancy was not an easy one. 3rd month into the pregnancy brought in complications. It was Dr. Prakash Kini, Senior Obstetrician @ Cloudnine who pumped in courage and told me that it will be fine. But one day, in my 26th week of pregnancy, I was horrified when I started having contractions. I rushed to Cloudnine hospital and Dr. Kini told me that baby has to be delivered as the baby is close to being born; whether I like it or not and it is too late to STOP labour.
We were so worried about our little one arriving a little too soon. But Dr. Kishore Kumar spoke to us and comforted us that they have been successful in saving babies who were born this early, though we understood it was not a guarantee. This gave us hope among our worries and our baby was born and shifted to the NICU. Our journey with parenthood began with a little joy and too much worry.
NICU journey was a roller coaster ride. There were days when everything went well and some days were really bad. Our baby was as big as our hands! He had to be on artificial breathing for quite sometime and had to be given medicines to help mature lungs, then he had low blood pressure for few days requiring medications and after that infections which nearly threatened his life! Every day was a day of hope and nightmares at times imagining the possibilities that can happen to a baby of such premature age. But, we were lucky to have the support of fine doctors like Dr. Kishore Kumar, Dr. S.V. Girish and Dr. Nandini Nagar who worked as a team 24/7 and they were always there for us, trying to help us understand the status of our baby’s development and his well-being.
NICU doctors and nurses were too good. They were motivating us whenever we felt sad and low. And the NICU - It has the best in class facilities @ Cloudnine, the level I read about in the blogs @ countries like USA, U.K. and Australia. There is a saying in Sanskrit “Vaidyo Narayano Hari”. This is what we felt with Dr. Kishore Kumar & his team @ Cloudnine. The story of Rashmi is one example of many success stories we have had in Cloudnine since its inception. Our dream is that we are able to spread this standard of care throughout the country.
To know more about Cloudnine Hospitals,
please visit: www.cloudninecare.com
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