The 2nd Smallest Baby In US (Palm-sized), Is Growing
At birth, Melinda Star Guido was so tiny she could fit into the palm of her doctor's hand. Weighing just 9 1/2 ounces – less than a can of soda – she is among the smallest babies ever born in the world.
Most infants her size don't survive, but doctors are preparing to send her home by New Year's.
Melinda was born premature at 24 weeks in late August and is believed to be the second-smallest baby to survive in the U.S. and third smallest in the world. She spent the early months cocooned in an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit in Los Angeles.
Despite hurdles, Melinda lived to her original Thursday due date. Doctors say it is too early to say how she will fare developmentally and physically when she grows up.
For now, her 22-year-old mother sits at her bedside almost every day and stays overnight whenever she can.
On Wednesday, Haydee Ibarra caressed Melinda through the portholes of the incubator where nurses pinned up a homemade sign bearing her name. Now 3 1/2 months old and weighing 4 pounds, Melinda gripped Ibarra's pinky finger and yawned.
"Melinda, Melinda," she cooed at her daughter dressed in a polka dot onesie. "You're awake today."
During her pregnancy, Ibarra suffered from high blood pressure, which can be dangerous for mother and fetus. She was transferred from a hospital near her San Fernando Valley home to the county's flagship hospital, which was better equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies.
There was a problem with the placenta, the organ that nourishes the developing fetus. The fetus, however, was not getting proper nutrition, blood and oxygen. Doctors knew Melinda would weigh less than a pound, but they were surprised at how small and fragile she was.
"The first few weeks, it was touch and go. None of us thought the baby was going to make it," said Dr. Rangasamy Ramanathan, who oversees premature infants at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
Even if she survived, doctors told Ibarra and her husband Yovani Guido, children born this extremely premature can have developmental delays and impairments such as blindness, deafness or cerebral palsy.
Ibarra, who previously had a stillborn, told doctors to do whatever necessary to help her baby.
"They said, `We'll take the chance. Please try.' So we said. `OK we'll try,'" Ramanathan recalled.
Most infants her size don't survive, but doctors are preparing to send her home by New Year's.
Melinda was born premature at 24 weeks in late August and is believed to be the second-smallest baby to survive in the U.S. and third smallest in the world. She spent the early months cocooned in an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit in Los Angeles.
Despite hurdles, Melinda lived to her original Thursday due date. Doctors say it is too early to say how she will fare developmentally and physically when she grows up.
For now, her 22-year-old mother sits at her bedside almost every day and stays overnight whenever she can.
On Wednesday, Haydee Ibarra caressed Melinda through the portholes of the incubator where nurses pinned up a homemade sign bearing her name. Now 3 1/2 months old and weighing 4 pounds, Melinda gripped Ibarra's pinky finger and yawned.
"Melinda, Melinda," she cooed at her daughter dressed in a polka dot onesie. "You're awake today."
During her pregnancy, Ibarra suffered from high blood pressure, which can be dangerous for mother and fetus. She was transferred from a hospital near her San Fernando Valley home to the county's flagship hospital, which was better equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies.
There was a problem with the placenta, the organ that nourishes the developing fetus. The fetus, however, was not getting proper nutrition, blood and oxygen. Doctors knew Melinda would weigh less than a pound, but they were surprised at how small and fragile she was.
"The first few weeks, it was touch and go. None of us thought the baby was going to make it," said Dr. Rangasamy Ramanathan, who oversees premature infants at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
Even if she survived, doctors told Ibarra and her husband Yovani Guido, children born this extremely premature can have developmental delays and impairments such as blindness, deafness or cerebral palsy.
Ibarra, who previously had a stillborn, told doctors to do whatever necessary to help her baby.
"They said, `We'll take the chance. Please try.' So we said. `OK we'll try,'" Ramanathan recalled.
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