A baby boy in North Carolina has finally gone home after 17 months in the neonatal intensive care unit — and just in time for Christmas.
Phillip Gaines was discharged from UNC Children’s in Chapel Hill on December 18 and staff members went all out, playing Christmas music and putting him in a cap and gown for his big day. As Phillip and his parents drove home from the hospital, friends and family gathered along the street to cheer him on with a “Welcome Home Phillip!” sign.
According to ABC 11, Phillip’s mother Georganna experienced a premature rupture of membranes at just 20 weeks. It was too soon for Phillip to be born, however. Currently, there are babies born as early as 21 weeks that have survived, though the chances are greater as gestational age increases. According to a 2022 Stanford Medicine study, of the babies born at 22 weeks, about 28% survived and among those born at 23 weeks, 55% survived.
“When I was in residency in the mid-1980s, babies born at 500 grams [about 1.1 pounds] and 25 weeks didn’t survive; it just didn’t happen. Now we see the borderline of viability dropping to 22 weeks,” said neonatologist Krisa Van Meurs, MD, a Stanford Medicine emerita professor of pediatrics and a co-author of the study. “With all of these new treatment strategies we’ve developed, we’ve seen an amazing impact.”
Doctors would need to act to protect Phillip and Georganna. Phillip needed more time, but Georganna was at risk of serious infection. Abortion advocates will argue that induced abortion is medically necessary, but a preborn baby doesn’t have to be intentionally and directly killed in order to treat preterm rupture of membranes (PPROM) and protect the mother.
Dr. Ingrid Skop, a board-certified OB/GYN and Vice President and Director of Medical Affairs for Charlotte Lozier Institute, explained:
For 30 years my management of this devastating situation has been, and remains, the same. I would explain the serious scenarios … to the mother and family. I offer immediate delivery due to the potential dire outcomes, but I also offer watchful waiting if the mother desires. Either is appropriate, even if there is no evidence of clinical infection present at diagnosis.
I have had some patients who desired to wait in hopes that their child would remain undelivered until a gestational age at which she could potentially be saved. Of course, this decision may be influenced by other factors, such as gestational age at diagnosis.
Viability, the gestational age at which a newborn child may be able to survive delivery with technological assistance, is now around 22-23 weeks gestation, sometimes earlier.
She added:
… I would immediately admit my patient to the hospital where antibiotics would be started, fetal well-being assessed, and clinical infection and labor ruled out. Equally important, medical professionals and hospital staff would rally around the mother and family, providing physical, emotional, and spiritual support as they walk through this health crisis and anticipate the potential loss of their child.
Perinatal hospice or palliative care might be initiated so the family can plan the interventions they desire for their young child, and this approach has been shown to help offset the grief and trauma these families experience. I would send her home only if the initial evaluation did not document any emergent issues and I would arrange close follow-up.
Dr. Skop noted that induction of labor or a C-section is a “more appropriate method of separation” of the mother and child than “intentional dismemberment by dilation and evacuation abortion and shows greater respect for the human dignity of the fetus, even if she is too young or sick to survive.”
It is unclear how doctors proceeded in the case of Georganna and Phillip; however, it appears they watched and waited. Though his mother’s water broke at 20 weeks, Phillip was not born for more than 10 weeks, at 30 weeks and three days’ gestation. This gave him a much better chance at survival, though there were still obstacles to overcome.
Phillip’s stay at UNC Children’s NICU was the longest on record as he overcame challenges. He’s home now with a ventilator and oxygen to help support him but he has a good prognosis. Doctors hope he will be able to come off of the ventilator when he is about five years old.
“There are a lot of people who never gave up on him,” said Georganna. “Even when stuff looks so dark and so bleak. By the grace of God, this little guy is a miracle, and we are here today. And, I’m happy to say that he is thriving. He is a full-blown toddler. I think people hear that he’s a NICU graduate, and they think of this tiny little preemie and our guy is like 25 pounds!”
Georganna said it was “moving” to see the family and friends gathered along the roadside to greet them on their way home. “[It was] just a nice reminder that sometimes it can feel lonely going through a journey like this, that you feel like you’re the only person in the world going through a hardship. And that’s not the case.”
She added that she and her husband are looking forward to Santa visiting their home and waking up Christmas morning “just the three of us.”
