jmuthoni@standardmedia.co.ke
A baby who was born prematurely weighing 400 grammes was yesterday discharged from hospital after attaining 3.5 kilogrammes.
Jeremy Tubula was handed to his parents after spending five months at the Kenyatta National Hospital’s newborn unit.
The boy was born on April 1 after his mother, Catherine Joy Nkune, developed complications.
According to the hospital’s CEO Evans Kamuri, the baby was born at 25 weeks. The mother had been put on two-week bed rest after developing complications.
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“We are actually happy with what is happening at Kenyatta. We have been in the news for bad reasons but I can tell you there are many good things that are happening in this hospital,” said Kamuri.
He said that the baby’s good health was phenomenal for the country and the region.
Tubula’s mother could not hide her joy after being handed her bundle of joy. She held him tightly and rocked him back and forth.
Dr Barbara Magoha, an obstetrician who led a team of specialists to deliver baby Tubula and take care of his mother, gave the baby a clean bill of health, saying Jeremy would live as a normal child.
According to Dr Magoha, she delivered Nkune’s two other children, the second born being 10 years now. She explained that the mother of three has been her patient for the past 15 years.
She explained that Nkune called her, saying she was bleeding.
“I told her to come to the hospital immediately, what I like about her is that she is a very understanding mother. She takes instructions. She was here for two weeks and we managed to control her bleeding but then her water broke,” stated Dr Magoha.
C-section
Nkune thought that since her other children were delivered through caesarean (C-section), the doctor would do the same for her last born.
“I convinced her that there was no need of giving her a scar when we are not sure of the baby which she understood. When getting towards the end of 24 weeks, I decided to give an injection to help the baby’s lungs and you can see the baby does not have lungs problems,” she added.
Dr Miriam Karanja, a neonatologist, led a team of doctors to take care of the newborn after birth.
This is the second time that Kenyatta National Hospital has raised an underweight baby. Baby Hope Obonyo, who is now eight years old, was also born weighing 400 grammes.
