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Mum’s cuddle brings new-born
baby back to life
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London, (IANS) A woman in Australia cuddled (
hold close in affectionate manner or hug ) her premature baby back to life even
though doctors had told her he was dead, a media report said Friday.
Kate Ogg gave birth to twins in a hospital in Sydney. They were delivered at 27
weeks, weighing just two pounds each, and though Ogg’s little girl Emily
survived, her brother Jamie was not breathing, Sky News reported on its website.
After battling to save him for 20 minutes, medical staff told Ogg Jamie had not
survived.
“The doctor asked me had we chosen a name for our son,” said Ogg. “I said
‘Jamie’ and he turned around with my son already wrapped up and said: ‘We’ve
lost Jamie, he didn’t make it, sorry’.
“It was the worst feeling I’ve ever felt. I unwrapped Jamie from his blanket. He
was very limp.”
Ogg told Channel 7’s Today Tonight programme that she wanted to hold him next to
her skin. “I took my gown off and arranged him on my chest with his head over my
arm and just held him,” she recalled.
“He wasn’t moving at all and we just started talking to him.”
“We told him what his name was and that he has a sister. We told him the things
we wanted to do with him throughout his life.”
After two hours, he began showing signs of life. “Jamie occasionally gasped for
air, which doctors said was a reflex action,” Ogg explained.
“But then I felt him move as if he were startled, then he started gasping more
and more regularly. I gave Jamie some breast milk on my finger, he took it and
started regular breathing normally.”
“I thought ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’ A short time later he opened his eyes.
It was a miracle.”
“Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger. He opened his eyes and moved
his head from side to side. The doctor kept shaking his head saying: ‘I don’t
believe it, I don’t believe it’.”
It is thought that the warmth of Ogg’s body acted like an incubator to keep the
baby warm and stimulated. It adds weight to the theory of “kangaroo care”, named
after the way marsupials care for their young in their pouches.
Some experts believe a skin-to-skin approach is more beneficial that taking
newborn babies into intensive care incubators. Jamie is now a healthy five-month
old.
His father David told the Channel 7 programme: “Luckily I’ve got a very strong,
very smart wife. She instinctively did what she did. If she hadn’t done that,
Jamie probably wouldn’t be here.”
- IANS
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