London, Jan.02, (PRINTWORDS NEWS) Michelle and Matthew Fountain welcomed their son Arthur into the world in quite an unexpected manner. The new born had to be operated while he was partly in his mother’s womb to remove a life threatening tumor which otherwise would have made it impossible for him to survive. During a routine pregnancy check up, doctors had discovered that the yet to be born baby has a tumorous growth in his neck that would make it impossible for him to breath following his birth.
Arther was delivered by an unique surgical technique, in which surgeons at the Jessop Hospital first delivered only the head and shoulder of the new born, so that the baby could continue to receive oxygen from the placenta. This gave the surgeons the necessary time to fix a tube in the baby’s neck through tracheotomy, which enabled him to breath after being separated from his mother’s womb. The new born then underwent a complicated four hour surgery in order to remove the tumorous growth from his neck. Following the surgery, Arther was put on a ventilator and was taken care of in the intensive unit of the medical facility for several weeks. Since then the baby boy has shown marked improvement in his condition. Although the four month old infant still has a breathing tube attached to his neck, he is presently doing considerably well.
Dr. Saurabh Gandhi, an obstetric consultant at the Jessop Hospital in Sheffield, where Arthur was delivered, said, “If we had delivered Arthur normally or by a Caesarean section, it would have been very likely that he would have died immediately.” The doctor also adds that these tumors are quite uncommon and occur once in around 50,000 births.
Meanwhile, his mother Michelle who also has two older daughters, 10 year old Harriet and 7 year old Lottie, adds, ‘Every day I look at him and can’t believe we’ve come home with him.’ However, the good news for the miracle boy’s family does not just end here as doctors are hopeful that the breathing tube can be removed before Arthur’s first birthday.
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