Being born is a transcendent experience for the human being. A little person who has formed for nine months in her mother's womb opens her eyes to the world for the first time and begins to breathe on her own. Everything is very different from that cozy and protected place where it has been developed.
Most of the time, childbirth is a happy time when the long-awaited child is finally received. There have been no complications and as they say, both the baby and the mother are perfectly well. But unfortunately, there is another less happy face, which happens when they reach the world babies whose lives at birth hang by a thread.
A recent case that has touched me deeply is that of little Sherezade, a girl born in Murcia at 32 weeks gestation with 1.5 kg and severe congenital heart disease.
He suffered a defect that caused the oxygenated blood to reach the diaphragm and liver, rather than the left atrium of his heart. Doctors had to make a key decision, even when very few patients have survived in similar cases. They decided to transfer it to the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona to be operated by specialized cardiac surgeons, their only option to survive.
The operation was performed on November 6 and has been very complex due to the millimeter size of the veins and because his heart was no bigger than a hazelnut. His heart stood for 28 minutes using extracorporeal circulation, and its body temperature has had to be lowered to 16 degrees to avoid possible sequelae.
Fortunately, the intervention has been a success. It has been possible to repair heart disease no sequels for the girl, although she will have to undergo periodic reviews and may need another intervention in the future.
We all know, for friends, acquaintances, or for having lived it in our own flesh, stories of babies whose lives at birth hang by a thread. Newborn people very small in size but with a great ability to hold on to life. Do you know little great fighters?
