Cape Town - For the mothers who can’t hold their children as soon as they are born, and instead spend agonising weeks disinfecting their hands and watching their tiny babies through the plastic walls of an incubator, the Groote Schuur Neonatal ICU is a home away from home.
Today (November 17) on World Prematurity Day, the unit is appealing to supporters to help them save the most fragile, vulnerable “preemies” – by helping upgrade the crowded specialist department.
Professor Michael Harrison, the head of Groote Schuur’s neonatal department, said the unit was in desperate need of more space.
When the Maternity Centre building was commissioned, no space was allocated to the babies themselves. All the wards were designed to care for mothers, because at that stage there was little medicine could do for sick babies.
Now, most premature babies can be saved – but the only space dedicated to caring for them is a cramped area where 12 incubators have to fit in a ward made for four.
The hospital has managed to find some extra ward space for the Neonatal ICU, but it is hopelessly unequipped to meet their medical needs.
That’s what the Purple for Preemies fundraising drive is all about – generating the money to put in oxygen pipes, special ventilation, and all the equipment needed to keep the 700g bodies alive.
“Looking at international norms, we need four times more space than we’ve got,” Harrison said. “Looking after babies is expensive in space and equipment.”
Harrison said the extra space would make a huge difference to the NICU.
“There will be far less risk of infections being passed between babies, there will be better access for doctors, we will be able to move equipment around in an easier and safer manner, and it’ll allow dignity for mothers (who are now) expressing breast milk in front of a hundred others.”
The precious space will also allow for privacy screens to be placed around families when babies die, which is traumatic for the child’s parents and for other parents in the ward watching their own children struggle through the first weeks of life.
“Watching other babies die has a terrible effect on them,” Harrison said.
Premature babies have dangerously underdeveloped lungs, guts and skin. Their brains are also vulnerable.
One premature baby who grew up to excel is Wayde van Niekerk, South African 400m record holder.
The athlete visited Groote Schuur’s NICU to show his support for World Prematurity Day.
Standing next to a baby weighing exactly what he did when he was born 22 years ago – 1.1kg – Van Niekerk was speechless.
“I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “It makes me put extra effort into what I do now, because of how hard my mother had to fight for me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her looking after me.”
For his mother, Odessa Swarts, seeing the tiny babies, brought back the feeling of dread when her son was on the brink of life or death.
“In the first 24 hours, they tell you your child might not make it. You just sit there looking at this tiny thing with needles sticking out of it.”
But despite being born at only 29 weeks, and with a blood infection, Van Niekerk survived, and his mother said he has never lost this quality. “He’s always been a fighter,” Swarts said. “He’ll never give up.”
Still fighting for his life in the ward for extremely small and sick babies is Rameez Saralina, who is two weeks old and weighs 830g.
He was born at 27 weeks – 13 weeks short of the time he should have spent growing in his mother’s womb. His mom Mymoena Saralina is staying positive. “My 19-year-old daughter was also premature, and now she’s taller than me,” she said.
Saralina was rushed into hospital when she fell ill during her pregnancy.
“I had water under my lungs, I couldn’t breathe by myself, and then my water broke,” she said. “I was very worried about Rameez.”
But having been treated so well by Groote Schuur’s Maternity Centre before, Saralina knew she was in good hands.
“If I leave, I can rest assured my baby will be fine.” Even so, she spends most of her time in the hospital, feeding Rameez her breast milk through a tube every two hours.
When Cape Argus photographer Henk Kruger asked for a picture of her with her baby, Saralina was allowed to place her disinfected hands into the incubator and pick up the fragile body of her son for the first time. “They said he had a 50/50 chance of survival, but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.”
* The Wear Purple for Preemies campaign, which is backed by the Cape Argus, is having a knit-a-thon today to put beanies and booties on babies vulnerable to the cold.
On Sunday night, the campaign lit up the Cape Wheel at the Waterfront with purple lights to raise awareness for the tiny babies battling through their first weeks of life.
* Members of the public can support Wear Purple for Preemies by buying a sticker for R10 and wearing purple on World Prematurity Day, and encouraging friends and family to do the same.
* Call 021 404 6023 or e-mail [email protected] to order stickers or to find out where to buy them. Or, visit www.newborns.org.za to make a direct donation to the NGST.
Cape Argus