A baby born weighing only 600 grams in the 23rd week of pregnancy and whose two
siblings died due to their prematurity was sent home on Monday weighing a hearty
2.24 kg. – four months after his birth.
The baby, Jazen Jamal, was born
to a Druse couple, Hend and Haiel, at Western Galilee Government Hospital in
Nahariya. The childless couple, who live in Kafr Yarka, had undergone fertility
treatments, but the triplet fetuses were very small.
Even though Hend was
hospitalized in the high-risk pregnancy unit for a month, the fetuses refused to
remain in the womb much longer. A boy and a girl died at 23 weeks of pregnancy,
leaving just one of the triplets.
Jazen struggled to survive in the
premature baby intensive care unit, where Dr. Vered Fleischer-Sheffer was a
member of the team that took care of the baby.
“Twenty-three weeks is the
recognized border between life and death for [premature babies] because the
lungs, brain and digestive system are not ripe. It is rare indeed for a baby who
is one of a multiple pregnancy to survive when born at that stage,” she said.
The chances for survival for a baby born at 23 weeks is only 7 percent, she
added.
“It was a real miracle,” said the happy father. “I am shaking from
excitement. He survived severe infections and diseases, and all this at a very
low birthweight and age.” \ Incredibly, the baby apparently does not suffer from
any disability.
“We go home with joy and tears combined,” the couple
said, “because we are bringing the baby home but without his two siblings. We
want to thank the doctors and nurses for the holy work they do.”
Hospital
director Dr. Masad Barhoum said that keeping the baby alive and healthy was an
“impressive achievement; I am proud of the professional medical staff that took
care of him from the moment he was born.”