{"id":258397,"date":"2021-12-07T10:47:57","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T16:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=258397"},"modified":"2023-11-14T19:58:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T01:58:07","slug":"premature-baby-24-weeks-mistook-placenta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-24-weeks-mistook-placenta\/","title":{"rendered":"Premature baby was so small his mother mistook him for placenta"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Right to Life UK<\/a>) Mum Gemma Richards, 27, has told journalists<\/a> how her baby was so small at birth that she mistook him for the placenta.<\/p>\n

\n

Gemma\u2019s son Casper was born at 24 weeks, weighing 1lb 8oz and was given just a 30% chance of survival.<\/p>\n

Gemma Richards had been getting ready for work as a carer when she experienced bleeding<\/a> \u2013 something she initially dismissed, having experienced it with her three pregnancies prior.<\/p>\n

Yet within an hour, she found herself in excruciating pain, and her husband Gareth, 33, phoned for an ambulance.<\/p>\n

Gemma was taken to Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro and woke up hours later, having given birth.<\/p>\n

Casper was immediately transferred<\/a> to St Michael\u2019s Hospital, Bristol, where he remained in the Intensive Care Unit for over a month.<\/p>\n

Gemma said<\/a>: \u2018It\u2019s all a bit of a blur, to be honest\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember a bit of bleeding in the morning but I didn\u2019t think anything of it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband phoned for an ambulance and when I arrived at hospital the doctors said I had some sort of infection and that at any minute could pass onto Casper\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe specialist team were telling me it would be safer for the baby to come out than be in. When I woke up he was so tiny. To be honest, because he was in a little ball I thought he was my placenta\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until he was turned around that I realised I was looking at my baby boy\u201d.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Premature baby makes history as youngest preemie ever to survive<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In May, doctors performed emergency surgery<\/a> on Casper, removing part of his bowel and fitting a stoma, extending both Gemma\u2019s and his stay in hospital.<\/p>\n

Unable to stay at the hospital, the family\u2019s other children are at home with their father, Gareth, 200 miles away in Constantine, Cornwall.<\/p>\n

Neither Gareth nor the other children have been able to hold Casper yet due to COVID-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n

Gemma is currently desperately trying to fund travel and accommodation for Gareth and siblings Lizzie, 7, Tyler, 5, and Oscar, 2.<\/p>\n

She said<\/a>: \u201cI feel I can\u2019t leave him unless his dad is here [\u2026] We have three other children who I am missing and [we\u2019d] just like [a] little normal back in our life\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s hard enough being in a pandemic but to go through one of the scariest moments of your life without your family is hard\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main concern is obviously Casper and we all just want him to get better\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s recently had some surgery so he will be in here for a while. Hopefully, soon the surgery will be reversed and his bowel can be reattached\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to find out more in the time to come but right now we just take it day by day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really do just want to thank anyone who has helped us so far with this, we are just so grateful and we really want to be together\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ever-improving chances for preterm infants<\/strong><\/p>\n

Babies are continuing to be born before or shortly after the abortion limit of 24 weeks gestation in Great Britain and going on to survive and thrive at greater rates than before. Studies suggest that the majority of premature babies grow up to be healthy adults without any major health problems.<\/p>\n

A study<\/a>, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October 2019, followed 2.56 million babies born in Sweden between 1973 and 1997, around six percent of whom were born prematurely.<\/p>\n

Researchers compared the health data of the premature babies to those that had been born at full term. They found that 55% of premature babies had no serious chronic, physical, or mental health issues by early adulthood. This is compared to 63% for babies born at full term.<\/p>\n

Additionally, with each passing decade, the odds of survival for a premature baby to adulthood have improved <\/a>from about 91% of babies born in the 1970s to about 96% of those born in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said:<\/p>\n

While it is wonderful to see that Caspar is being cared for, it is a source of national shame that it is currently legal to abort children up to 24 weeks gestation \u2013 and up to birth if they are likely to be born with a disability. These are not \u2018clumps of cells\u2019, they are children.<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at Right to Life UK<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Right to Life UK) Mum Gemma Richards, 27, has told journalists how her baby was so small at birth that she mistook him for the placenta. Gemma\u2019s son Casper was born at 24 weeks, weighing 1lb 8oz and was given just a 30% chance of survival. Gemma Richards had been getting ready for work as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":669,"featured_media":192142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,9455,3473],"tags":[14558,14554,14559,14553,5144,5323,14560,10120,14555,14557,14556],"yoast_head":"\nPremature baby was so small his mother mistook him for placenta<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Premature baby Casper was born during a medical emergency at 24 weeks and given a 30% chance of survival. 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