"Dead" Premature Baby Boy Revived by Mom and Kangaroo Care

It had been a worrisome pregnancy all along, when after 3 days of labor at a hospital in Sydney Australia, mom Kate Ogg gave birth to premature twins, a girl Emily and a boy Jamie.

Born at just 27 weeks, Emily's birth went well, but twin brother Jamie was in trouble. He did not breathe. The doctor after working on Jamie for 20 minutes declared him dead. A nurse laid Jamie on his mother's warm, bare chest, and Kate and her devastated husband David, struggled to say "good-bye."

Kate Ogg held her baby son close on her bare chest for nearly 2 hours, talking to him, caressing his tiny body, singing to him, telling him all about his twin sister Emily, his family and how much he was loved.

Dad, David Ogg took off his own shirt, and held 2 pound Jamie against his bare chest. He told his baby son how precious he was, and how he would always be remembered. After holding tiny Jamie for awhile he returned the baby to Kate. A midwife recorded the scene on a video camera. http://www.today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38988444/ns/38992465

After awhile as the couple held the baby, he began to gasp. The parents did not get excited. It was a reflex the doctors told them to expect, but when Kate's mom left the room and closed the door, the baby suddenly startled. Then he started to move his arms and legs. Then his tiny hands grabbed Kate's finger and he opened his eyes.

Kate called to the doctor who put his stethoscope to the baby's chest and declared him alive. The doctor was shocked. He said that Jamie's revival was a miracle.

The happy mom credits the amazing reversal to "Kangaroo Care." Kangaroo Care is the procedure of positioning a premature baby on its stomach against the mother's bare chest and breasts, with skin to skin contact. Fathers can also provide skin to skin contact with their premature infant.

Kangaroo Care is named for the way certain marsupials carry their young. It provides skin to skin contact similar to the way a baby kangaroo is held in its mother's pouch.

The practice began in less developed countries where access to high technology equipment was limited. It is now accepted throughout the world as a recognized method for helping premature infants.

The benefits of skin to skin contact or Kangaroo Care include:

• Stabilizing the baby's heartbeat
• Improving the baby's breathing pattern
• Improving the baby's oxygen saturation levels
• Decreasing crying
• Enhancing bonding with the parents
• Earlier hospital discharge for preemies

The doctor who delivered the Ogg baby felt it was highly unlikely that premature baby Jamie was dead, as Kangaroo Care would not resuscitate a deceased child. But the technique does benefit babies and is used in many neo-natal intensive care units, including the New York Hospital NICU at Queens.

Kangaroo Care is easy to learn and is taught in many childbirth classes. It is recommended for all newborns.

It just goes to show that there is magic in a mother's and in a father's touch. See this extraordinary family and the midwife's video...You won't forget it. http://www.today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38988444/ns/38992465

Sources:

The Today Show NBC

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/08/26/2010-08-26_miracle_birth_mom_in_australia_says_kangaroo_care_helped_revive_her_dead_prematu.html

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/healthy_living/infant_care/hic_kangaroo_care.aspx