Port of Spain; After being warned by doctors that her pregnancy should be aborted, a 39 year old woman from Rockroad Penal decided to go against doctors orders and attempt to carry her baby full term. The doctors warned her she could bleed to death but she defied the odds and kept her fetus.
The four pound baby girl was delivered by a team of medical experts in a two hour surgery in what doctors are describing as nothing short of a miracle. The woman experienced an abdominal pregnancy where the fetus was carried outside of the womb. This type of pregnancy is very high risk and seldom goes through a full term of development.
A Laparotomy had to be done which is an incision in an area of the abdomen wall in order to do the delivery. Dr. Krishna Rampersadsingh said this type of pregnancy is not very common and only three such cases were dealt with in the past seven years by the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA).
Dr, Rampersadsingh explained that before 24 weeks of abnormal pregnancy, patients are usually advised to terminate the pregnancy due to the high risk involved. This patient was 33 weeks and any form of interference could have been catastrophic. He said the patient was counseled every day about the risk she was putting herself through. The hospital made all necessary arrangements which included having a tertiary medical Centre where there was access to operations theater, blood transfusion services, as well as antibiotics.
The entire medical team was happy about the positive outcome of the surgery, however as a precautionary measure the mother is being treated in the Intensive Care Unit and the baby should be out of the incubator soon.
