Ranchi: Six years after marriage, Shiv and Uma (names changed) finally welcomed identical twin boys through IVF on May 29. But the joy of parenthood quickly gave way to fear as the babies were born extremely premature at just 28 weeks of gestation.Both newborns were shifted to a private hospital in the city, on May 30. One of the twins weighed only 730 grams and was diagnosed with a severe congenital defect — oesophageal atresia with tracheo-oesophageal fistula — in which the food pipe is not properly formed and is abnormally connected to the windpipe. The other twin, weighing around 1.2 kg, was also kept under observation for several days.“The condition required urgent surgical intervention despite the baby’s extreme prematurity and very low birth weight. The baby underwent surgery just after a day, performed by paediatric surgeon Dr Md Imran. The parents were counselled about the high-risk surgery as it was scheduled a day after his birth on May 30 and the parents agreed,” Dr Rajesh Kumar, medical director at Rani Hospital, said.The two-hour surgery successfully corrected the congenital anomaly. But that was only the beginning of a long and delicate recovery.“Following surgery, the baby remained on ventilation for around 25 days, followed by non-invasive ventilator support for another 35 days. During the prolonged NICU stay, a team of doctors continuously managed the baby’s respiratory requirements, nutrition, infection risks, postoperative recovery, growth and other complications associated with the premature birth,” Kumar added.After 126 days in hospital, the baby has shown satisfactory clinical recovery and now weighs around 1.54 kg. He was discharged on Friday with follow-up advice.For the parents, doctors said, the discharge marked the end of months of uncertainty — and the beginning of a long-awaited journey home with their child.
