CHENGDU: Chen takes little En’en from a nurse and looks at him misty-eyed.
“En’en, dad and mom are here to take you home,” said Chen, the mom. “Don’t worry.”
It was the first time in more than 130 days that Chen held the baby in her arms. She appeared to be a little nervous.
“Hush, you will wake him up,” said her husband, Xie. En’en is the youngest premature baby ever recorded in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. On Friday, he was discharged safe and sound from West China Second University Hospital. The hospital’s neonatology division held a farewell party for the family. En’en’s first journey in the world was accompanied by fear, anxiety and tears. On the night of November 17, 2019, the hospital received an emergency call to save a premature baby born at 22 weeks and six days.
The hospital immediately sent doctors to fetch the baby. Within just eight hours of birth, En’en was transferred into the hospital’s intensive care unit for newborns. “Any baby born between 28 weeks and 37 weeks are called premature babies, and those born within 28 weeks are extreme cases,” said Tang Jun, with the hospital.
“En’en was the youngest ever premature baby in Sichuan.” When En’en was born, he weighed just 550 grams, about “the size of an adult’s palm,” Tang said. “We had never received and treated such little babies before,” Tang said. “We tried everything possible.” – Agencies
