"A Little Miracle"

Her name is Maria. She is 27-28 years old with now four children. She was admitted to the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital two days prior to my arrival in Papua New Guinea. At that point, she was 28 weeks pregnant with ruptured membranes, though not in labor.

Maria showed no signs of labor or infection on admission. She was placed on IV antibiotics, IV fluids and monitored for sepsis. When I took over her care, she had no fever, her white blood cell count was normal and she still had no contractions. She was given steroids and a base line ultrasound for amniotic fluid volume was done. It showed the fluid volume to be markedly diminished and I felt the probability of making it to viability with normal development and no sepsis was small.

Here in PNG, we have no neonatal intensive care. We have no ventilator and no neonatologist. However, the decision was made to give Maria a chance to see if the amniotic fluid would regenerate so normal development could transpire. After much prayer (Kudjip has an abundance of prayer!), Maria was placed at bedrest except to go the bathroom (150 feet away from the bed). She was changed to oral antibiotics and oral fluids. She was instructed to wash her bottom twice each day with soap and water. We monitored temp every 4 hours, white blood cell count every 5 days, fetal heart rate every 8 hours, and amniotic fluid volume and fetal growth on a weekly basis.

Miracle of miracles! After one week the amniotic fluids had increased back to acceptable levels and the baby seemed to be growing. There were no signs of sepsis and Maria seems to understand what and why she needed to follow instructions. This went on day after day and week after week for one month. The baby grew to 32 weeks’ size and the amniotic fluid remained adequate despite gross leakage. All was well.

 At just over 32 weeks, Maria became septic and went into labor. Her baby, a girl, was born weighing 1,777 grams. I don’t know why all the 7’s, maybe for luck. The baby was never on extra oxygen and is now in the nursery. She seems to be growing using a feeding tube and mother’s milk (too small to suck). I think now the probability is high for normal development and survival. It is rare that babies less than 2,000 grams make it here, but this little miracle is alive and well.

Thank you, Jesus!

See you later,

Dr. P