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Doctors Place Preemie in Plastic Sandwich Bag after Weight Drops to Less Than 1lb

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Pregnant with her first child, Sharon Grant was frightened when doctors told her that her baby had stopped growing in the womb.

At the time, she was only 20 weeks pregnant. From then on, she was in and out of the hospital with constant check-ups and scans.

Doctors knew the baby needed to be born early, but hoped to wait until she’d reached a certain weight.

But at 28 weeks, the news went from bad to worse. The placenta and umbilical cord hadn’t been delivering nutrients properly, and the baby needed to be delivered immediately.

They performed an emergency c-section, but were worried the baby would be difficult to locate.

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“There was no way she would have survived normal birth so they had to do a C-section,” Sharon said.

“They thought they wouldn’t be able to find her in my body and would have to do two cuts to try and get her, but luckily they only had to do one.”

But once little Pixie was born, doctors didn’t think she’d live even an hour at just 1.1 lbs. Because she was too tiny for normal equipment, they put her inside of a sandwich bag to keep her warm.



“They put her in a sandwich bag straight away to keep her warm and to keep her in a greenhouse-like environment,” Sharon said.

Pixie kept fighting past doctor’s grim predictions, but each and every minute was still uncertain.

“She was living hour by hour for weeks after that in intensive care.” And she continued to fight for the next two months.

“She got a stomach infection, a urine infection and had about 10 blood transfusions over those months, and even had to have a lumbar puncture,” her mom said.

“She kept being sick when they gave her milk and every time she was handled she would lose weight.”

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But finally, at five months old, Pixie had gained weight, weighing as much as a newborn baby at 7.5 lbs. She was stable and breathing on her own.



Finally, mom was able to take her home for the first time. When she first arrived, she couldn’t be near other children or sick people, or she’d have to go back on oxygen.

“But at the moment she is doing really well,” Sharon said. “She looks really nice and healthy.

“It’s so lovely to have her home; there’s been endless cuddles and lots of people eager to see her. It’s amazing.”

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Liz was a senior story editor for The Western Journal.
Liz was a senior story editor for The Western Journal.
Location
Arizona
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
Health, Entertainment, Faith




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