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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PROLIFE who wrote (290467)	8/26/2002 4:14:33 PM
From: goldworldnet	Respond to of 769670

Babies are surviving shorter and shorter gestations. Twenty-two weeks is the current record. No doubt artificial gestation will soon be possible, which will make the brutality and inhumanity of the abortion industry even more evident. St. John's Youngest Preemie Goes Home Springfield, Ill.-Isaac Henson will be home for Thanksgiving-almost a week after what would have been his actual birth date. Little Isaac is four months old and the youngest surviving preemie born at St. John's Children's Hospital. Isaac was born July 18, at just 22 weeks (just over five months) of gestation. A full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks long, making his expected date of birth around Nov. 17. Up until July, his mother, Lacy Smith, 17, of Pittsfield, said she had experienced a normal pregnancy. "I was in the hospital, basically because I knew something was going on," she said. "I went into a Jacksonville Hospital and was transferred to St. John's." According to the attending neonatalogist, Saied Eftekhari, MD, Smith did everything right, especially going to the hospital at the first sign of problems. Smith was hospitalized from July 15 until July 18 when she delivered. "She was in time with everything that she did and the baby was born in an optimal situation here," he said. "Many births happen at another center then get transferred here (to the neonatal intensive care unit or NICU)." Eftekhari also credited good genes and new medicines among the several factors contributing to Isaac's survival. "In the past 7 to 8 years we've had some new technologies and medicines available to us," he said. Among the medicines more commonly used in recent years is a synthetic form of surfactant, a chemical that helps babies' lungs absorb oxygen. According to Eftekhari, surfactant is inserted into the premature infant's lungs through the ventilator hook-up. In Isaac's case, a surfactant derived from cow's lungs was administered three times. Eftekhari says a baby born at 22 weeks would have a small chance of survival. Most premature babies born at 27 weeks or more have at least an 80 to 90 percent chance of survival. According to the National Center for Health Statistics an estimated 11.6 percent of the 4 million babies born every year are premature. Isaac weighed just 1 pound, 4 ounces at birth and measured over 11 inches long. His weight at discharge was 5 pounds and 13.4 ounces-closer to the weight of a newborn. Like many preemies born very prematurely, Isaac had several problems. He had laser eye surgery to correct eye problems and most recently fought an infection. Eftekhari says Isaac will be on a monitor even at home. His growth in the next few months will also be closely monitored. Despite his early problems, Isaac's prognosis is good. st-johns.org * * *