Baby Ivoree Jane has undergone surgery to remove a tumour that was in her mouth and is now undergoing feeding therapy at Tygerberg Hospital. Photo: Supplied
Cape Town - Doctors are administering speech therapy to a baby following a complex procedure for a rare foetal abnormality which involved having a tumour in her mouth.
Doctors at Tygerberg Hospital had to deliver the baby of Kiara Jackson prematurely in order to perform the ex utero intrapartum treatment procedure.
The danger posed by the tumour was that it could obstruct the airway of the foetus, resulting in too much fluid surrounding the foetus in the womb which could lead to early labour or heart failure.
At 35 weeks pregnant, doctors delivered the baby half way to perform the procedure to create an airway in order to insert tubes for the baby to breathe.
Following the creation of the airway, they completed a Caesarean, followed by the removal of the tumour.
The baby was named Ivoree Jane and is stable in the neonatal ICU for supportive care. Jackson said her baby is doing well and they are giving her feeding therapy.
“She can’t really swallow because of the tumour being in her mouth so she’s never swallowed properly by herself and her jaw doesn’t close properly because of the pressure of the tumour.
“Right now we’re doing feeding therapy, but they’re doing little exercises with her to help her get used to things in her mouth so that we can start to bottle feed her,” Jackson said.
She said this has been a stressful time for her as a first-time mother.
“This is my first child, so it’s a bit overwhelming and stressful because nobody wants to see their kid lying with tubes, but she’s been getting better and they’ve been removing the breathing tubes, it’s easier as the days go by but still stressful.”
She added: “I’m as well as anybody can be at this time, I’m just tired, emotionally drained, but it’s something that I have to do.”
rafieka.williams@inl.co.za
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