{"id":312604,"date":"2024-05-20T16:30:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T21:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=312604"},"modified":"2024-05-19T20:27:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T01:27:59","slug":"premature-baby-14-ounces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-14-ounces\/","title":{"rendered":"Born weighing just 14 ounces, premature baby heads home from hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Right to Life UK<\/a>) — A baby girl who was born weighing just 14oz and had to spend 131 days in hospital has celebrated her first birthday.<\/p>\n

When she was only 22 weeks pregnant, Naomi Southern-Augustine, a mum from Peterborough, went into hospital after noticing unusual symptoms. She was concerned that this might be \u201ca waste of NHS time\u201d but also didn\u2019t want to wait another eight weeks for her next scheduled appointment..<\/p>\n

However, much to Naomi\u2019s shock, baby Wren was born at just 22 weeks and was the smallest baby her neonatal intensive care unit had ever seen, measuring about the same size as her father Rob\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know you could go into labour that early. We didn\u2019t know what to expect, we were shocked\u201d, Naomi\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a difficult time \u2013 there wasn\u2019t much hope and we were told to prepare ourselves as she was unlikely to survive but she did\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst experience of our life\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Wren \u201csailed\u201d through her first two weeks of life outside of the womb, she suddenly began to deteriorate and conversations began about withdrawing her treatment. When their daughter was just 17 days old, Naomi and Rob were anticipating saying a final goodbye.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a whole week of hell. The worst experience of our life\u201d,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Naomi. \u201cThat was also the first day we got to hold her\u2026 I thought if she is going to die, for half her life I haven\u2019t touched her\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never be ready to say goodbye. I could feel the time getting closer\u2026 then she started making good noises on the machines and having cuddles with her dad\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rob\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0\u201cLooking at her now compared to photos, it is like a different baby. She has come through a lot and been a fighter since day one\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe exceeded all expectations\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite her struggles and having to spend 131 days in neonatal units across two hospitals, baby Wren was finally able to go home and has recently celebrated her first birthday.<\/p>\n

The family celebrated by visiting the neonatal unit to thank the medical staff who helped Wren survive.<\/p>\n

READ: Planned Parenthood loses legal challenge to South Carolina\u2019s \u2018fetal heartbeat\u2019 definition<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr Jennifer Birch, consultant and clinical director for neonatal services at Bedfordshire hospitals,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful and lovely when we say \u2018our baby\u2019s grown up and doing well\u2019. It really makes all the care we provide feel worthwhile and it is really rewarding to see her [Wren] so well and alert\u201d.<\/p>\n

Naomi is also now writing a book to help others in a similar situation,\u00a0saying<\/a>\u00a0\u201cwe wanted to share [our] story to give hope\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy all accounts she [Wren] shouldn\u2019t have survived, but she did\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe exceeded all expectation[s]. She is the happiest smiley baby. We are so lucky, and I couldn\u2019t be prouder\u201d.<\/p>\n

Medical advances have left a contradiction at the heart of our abortion law<\/strong><\/p>\n

Babies such as Wren, born at 22 weeks, highlight the clear contradiction at the heart of our abortion law and medical practice. On the one hand, the law permits ending the lives of babies at 22 and 23 weeks, and, on the other hand, current medical practice strives to save the lives of many babies born prematurely at 22 or 23 weeks gestation.<\/p>\n

The annual abortion statistics for England and Wales in 2021 (the most recent year for which a full year of data is available) reveal that 755 \u201cground C\u201d abortions were performed when the baby was at 22 or 23 weeks gestation (ground C is the statutory ground under which the vast majority of abortions are permitted and there is currently a 24-week time limit for abortions performed under this statutory ground).<\/p>\n

At the same time, according to a recent study, there were a total of\u00a0261 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeks<\/a>, before the abortion limit, who survived to discharge from hospital in 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n

This means in the same hospital, on the same day, two babies at the same gestational age (22 or 23 weeks gestation) could have very different fates \u2013 one could have his or her life deliberately ended by abortion, and the other could be born prematurely and have a dedicated medical team provide the best care they can to try to save his or her life.<\/p>\n

This is not mere speculation as a number of hospitals in England provide specialist care for extremely premature babies, usually those\u00a0born before 27 weeks gestation<\/a>, and also perform late-term abortions, between 20 and 23 weeks. According to statistics released by the Department of Health and Social Care, between 2018 and 2021 (2018<\/a>,\u00a02019<\/a>,\u00a02020<\/a>,\u00a02021<\/a>), Birmingham Women\u2019s Hospital performed 143 abortions where the baby was between 20 and 23 weeks gestation in 2021. At the same time, their\u00a0neonatal intensive care unit<\/a>\u00a0\u201cprovides intensive care to premature babies born as early as 23 weeks\u201d. This means in this hospital in Birmingham, there could be doctors at one end of the hospital fighting to a keep baby born at 23 weeks gestation alive, and, at the other end of the hospital, there could be other doctors ending the life of a baby at 23 weeks gestation through an abortion.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Liverpool Women\u2019s Hospital\u00a0performed<\/a>\u00a0108 abortions where the baby was between 20 and 23 weeks gestation between 2018 and 2021. The same hospital also\u00a0provides<\/a>\u00a0neonatal intensive care for babies from as young as 22 weeks gestation \u201cand as small as 400g\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said \u201cWren\u2019s amazing journey from weighing just 14oz at birth to celebrating her first birthday is a beautiful testament to the resilience of human life. It is absolutely right to celebrate our amazing medical professionals across the country who save the lives of these precious premature babies, and to encourage them to continue to fight for the most vulnerable members of our society\u201d.<\/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

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30 seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Right to Life UK) — A baby girl who was born weighing just 14oz and had to spend 131 days in hospital has celebrated her first birthday. When she was only 22 weeks pregnant, Naomi Southern-Augustine, a mum from Peterborough, went into hospital after noticing unusual symptoms. She was concerned that this might be \u201ca […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":669,"featured_media":192146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,9455,5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBorn weighing just 14 ounces, premature baby heads home from hospital<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A premature baby girl born weighing just 14 ounces at 22 weeks -- the smallest the UK NICU had ever seen -- has been discharged.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/baby-girl-born-the-size-of-her-fathers-hand-celebrates-her-first-birthday-at-home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Born weighing just 14 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