News / International
US baby born without blood
06 Feb 2014 at 08:12hrs | Views
Baby Hope Juarez, delivered by emergency C-section, did not bleed when Orange County doctors pricked her feet to get a blood sample.
Three weeks before her due date, Jennifer Juarez knew something was very wrong when her baby suddenly stopped kicking.
An emergency C-section delivered Hope Juarez, who was crying but was very pale.
The baby had lost about 80% of the blood in her tiny system, the result of a rare hemorrhage suffered in the womb.
"We don't know what causes it. A lot of it just happens spontaneously," Dr. Marielle Nguyen, a neonatologist at Kaiser Permanente-Irvine Medical Center, told KABC.
A blood transfusion saved the baby's life.
The previously most recent case occurred in Great Britain in 2012. That mother also noticed her baby had stopped kicking.
"Sometimes the cause could be a motor vehicle accident, trauma, or where we have placental rupture, where the placenta suddenly just comes off the uterine wall," said Nguyen. But none of that happened to Jennifer Juarez.
Little Hope, now 6 weeks old, is happy and healthy.
Though doctors don't know what caused the fetal bleeding, they said Hope would likely not be here if her mother had waited even just a few hours before seeking medical help.
Three weeks before her due date, Jennifer Juarez knew something was very wrong when her baby suddenly stopped kicking.
An emergency C-section delivered Hope Juarez, who was crying but was very pale.
The baby had lost about 80% of the blood in her tiny system, the result of a rare hemorrhage suffered in the womb.
"We don't know what causes it. A lot of it just happens spontaneously," Dr. Marielle Nguyen, a neonatologist at Kaiser Permanente-Irvine Medical Center, told KABC.
The previously most recent case occurred in Great Britain in 2012. That mother also noticed her baby had stopped kicking.
"Sometimes the cause could be a motor vehicle accident, trauma, or where we have placental rupture, where the placenta suddenly just comes off the uterine wall," said Nguyen. But none of that happened to Jennifer Juarez.
Little Hope, now 6 weeks old, is happy and healthy.
Though doctors don't know what caused the fetal bleeding, they said Hope would likely not be here if her mother had waited even just a few hours before seeking medical help.
Source - NYDN
