November's featured
child, Jia, is a great example of how we care for premature babies at the
Little Flower infant care homes, and how simple monthly donations can make a
huge difference in saving a child's life.
Almost a year ago to
the day, an orphanage called and told us that they had a tiny premature baby to
send to us. It was by no means the first time we’d received a call like
that, as we deal with preemies on a day-to-day basis. These infants, who were
born early and didn’t have a full term to grow, are some of the most fragile
babies in our care. They require constant monitoring to help them maintain a
stable body temperature, develop healthy lungs, put on weight, and steadily
grow stronger day by day.
In November of last
year, tiny Jia arrived at our Beijing Infant Care Home. He weighed just 1.37
kilograms, or about 3 pounds. It’s hard to imagine a baby that small, isn’t it?
At that size, the baby isn’t much bigger than your hands! Here's our very first
photo of the little guy:
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| November 20, 2012
You can see, with one of our medical staff's
hands in the shot, just how small this tiny baby was. That diaper he's wearing
is preemie-sized, and it still resembles a potato sack on him!
We soon noticed that Jia’s head looked oddly large in comparison to the rest of his body. Although this is often the case with preemies, the difference was notably greater in this little guy. We started to suspect that he might have had a case of hydrocephalus, a condition in which the infant has an abnormal collection of fluid in the brain. One phone call later, we’d consulted a neurosurgeon, described little Jia, and from the description, the doctor had agreed with our suspicions. 
We rushed him to the hospital to do a scan checking for hydrocephalus.
But, to everyone's utter surprise, the scan came back negative.
Just to make sure, we did the scan again at a different hospital (we’re nothing if not thorough). And again, the test came back negative. So it wasn’t hydrocephalus after all…
So what was it?
November 20, 2012
As it turned out, Jia has Russell-Silver Syndrome, a form of dwarfism characterized by normal growth of the head, but slow growth in the rest of the body before and after birth.
Mystery solved, the goal then (as is the goal with all of our preemies) was to grow him bigger and stronger. We kept him in an Embrace infant warmer for a while to help his tiny body maintain a stable temperature.
November 25, 2012
He was very weak, and it was a daily struggle
to help him thrive. He was on a feeding tube, but it was very difficult to get
him to eat as much as he needed.
November 26, 2012
As you can see, even
the little preemie clothes were way too big for him!
December 1, 2012
Soon enough, however,
he began to grow bigger (and even cuter!). And it wasn't the result of any kind
of surgery or expensive medical procedure. It was all the result of simple,
intensive nursing care and love from our staff.
December 2, 2012
December 21, 2012
Jia's nannies watched
him closely every day, and our medical staff monitored his progress.
December 31, 2012
His eyes grew
brighter, and his face a little chubbier.
January 10, 2013
Look at those rosy
cheeks!
May 23, 2013
June 17, 2013
We eventually got him
off the feeding tube and eating on his own at last. It wasn't long before
he was moving out of the preemie room and into the room for our bigger kids to
laugh, crawl, and play with his buddies. Notably, he also became one of
our baby home's winners of the Most Photogenic Baby Award, with his bright eyes
and little smile.
August 2, 2013
There he is crawling
toward the camera for his close-up!
September 4, 2013
A full year later,
Jia is doing great. He's recently gone to another infant care home in his home
province, all in preparation for adoption. A happy ending to a year-long
journey.
October 2, 2013
Jia is a great
example of how basic intensive care and monitoring is often all that's needed
to save a baby’s life. It’s not always surgery, complex medical procedures, and
hospital visits that are necessary for effective treatment.
We treated Jia at
home, and other than those initial two hospital visits for the scans that
turned out not to be hydrocephalus, our staff was able to provide everything he
needed.
With nearly 150
nannies and care staff working around the clock--24 hours, 7 days a week, 365
days a year, we can save so many babies simply by providing what we’re capable
of in our infant care home. Jia alone had several nannies working three 8-hour
shifts each day, along with our baby home staff members and medical
volunteers looking in on him.
Surgeries are a huge
expense and a very important part of what we do for our kids. But what people
don’t always realize is that it's these daily expenses--our nannies' salaries,
medical staff, supplies, medicine, equipment--that are often at the heart of
what we do. For about $800/month, you can save a child's life. And we’re doing
that over and over again—especially with the infants in our preemie unit.
Jia's not a tiny
little bean in a giant preemie diaper anymore. He's a healthy boy awaiting his
forever family. All of us here at Little Flower are so happy to have seen him
through his first year of life.
And we're so excited
to have shared his story with all of you--our amazing supporters.
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