In an amazing tale of survival, a baby born at only 24 weeks endures a bout with meningitis, 9 lung collapses and a bleeding brain.
It was nothing short of a miracle
The baby’s mother, Lisa Connor-Melville, was immediately rushed to the hospital after her water broke. In the hospital, the doctors found that Lisa had been bleeding internally, so they immediately rushed her to emergency surgery in order to save both her and her child’s life.
Soon after, baby Lillian Connor-Melville was born, weighing only 610g. It was nothing short of a miracle
However, Lisa then had a hemorrhage and lost 5 liters of blood, and as a result, had to go into surgery for a second time.
Sadly, baby Lillian soon contracted meningitis along with a host of other conditions which include a bleeding brain and 9 lung collapses.
Keep strong and never look negative
Thankfully, Lillian seems to be recovering slowly but surely. Her mother wrote on her gofundme page that she’s starting to breastfeed and that they are hopeful that Lillian will be making a full recovery.
The family has spent the last 70 days at Ronald McDonald house since they are unable to pay for the hospital bills. Both Lillian and her husband are unemployed so they started a gofundme page so that they can have enough money to support their family.
In spite of these challenges, Lisa is keeping positive. She shares, “Keep strong and never look negative. If you get down the baby senses it too. If you have bad day that will affect your baby. If you stay strong they will feel that too.”
Go to the next page to learn more about taking care of premature babies.
How do I take care of a preemie?
Premature babies, or preemies as most like to call them, have special needs compared to other babies. This is why if you’re the parent of a preemie, you should know how to best take care of your baby. Here are some things to always keep in mind:
- Know more about your child’s condition. Knowing more about your preemie’s condition would let you understand how best to take care of your child and it would also let you know what warning signs to watch out for.
- If you see anything out of the ordinary, inform your child’s doctor. If you think that there’s something off with your baby, don’t hesitate to inform your child’s doctor about it. It might save their life.
- Breast milk is very important for preemies. Do your best to provide breastmilk for your preemie as this will keep them strong and help them recover even faster.
- Spend some quality time with your baby. Spending quality time with your preemie is important since skin-to-skin contact is helpful for babies. Soothe them, and take care of them.
- Healing takes time. You also need to take care of yourself, so make sure to eat a healthy diet and check your health constantly so that you can be at your healthiest when taking care of your child.
- Take a break. Taking care of a baby is a full time job, more so for a preemie. When it comes to breaks, you should take any chance that you can get. Rest is very important.
- If you have other kids, talk to them about your preemie’s condition. It’s important to talk about your preemie’s condition to your other children so that they know what’s happening and why your little one is in the hospital.
- There are a lot of mom groups out there that are willing to help out other moms that have preemies. You can try reaching out to them if you need support.
READ: Toddler stabbed in the eye and brain by large pencil
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, tweeddailynews.com.au, mayoclinic.org
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