Baby Coralie Goes Home After Over Two Months in Intensive Care
West Mid consultant's daughter was only 748 grams when born
Annie and Arjuna taking Coralie home
August 18, 2023
A baby who weighed only 748 grams when she was born has finally come home after spending 75 days in intensive care.
Coralie’s parents, Annie and Arjuna, had taken her for a 20-week scan at West Middlesex University Hospital where Arjuna works as a Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon.
The scan revealed that Coralie was in the bottom 1% for size at that stage of gestation.
Annie was transferred to the Trust’s other site with a level 3 neonatal unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and remained an inpatient on continuous monitoring for two weeks.
Coralie was born on 24 May, almost 3 months ahead of her due date on 15 August, via an emergency C-section with several complex medical problems affecting her brain and heart. This meant that she had to spend 75 days in Chelsea’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), with many of those in an incubator, as well as undergoing major abdominal surgery by the Paediatric Surgical team.
With cross-site collaboration across both hospital sites, and care from a multi-disciplinary team, Coralie has now returned home, at 39 weeks old and is doing well weighing 2.2kg.
Arjuna said, “Having worked at the Trust for eight years, and having trained in both hospital sites, it is outstanding to see the care provided, now on the other side as a patient. I witnessed a team made up of incredible doctors, nurses, midwives, therapists, and many others who all went above and beyond to care for Coralie and provide our family with reassuring updates throughout this fairly traumatic experience for us.
“I am extremely grateful to all who cared for my baby and wife, and so thrilled that we now have them both home, healthy and happy. It is a real testament to the staff at the Trust, who help patients to feel as at ease as possible, and this has inspired me to be an even better doctor for my own patients.”
Staff at the NICU bid farewell to Coralie
Vicki Cochrane, Divisional Director of Midwifery and Nursing at the Trust said, “The work of the fantastic maternity and neonatal teams at our Trust never goes unappreciated, as they really do go the extra mile to care for women, babies and the families in their care.
“I am so pleased we have been able to discharge baby Coralie and see her go home with her family after spending 75 days in our care.”
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