European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 12, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse To your / preemies beat the Odd by Jenny Vogt Cox news service he first photo in John Marcello s Orange-and-14 while baby Book is not a Mother s fondest vision. Of her perfect Newborn c. No bigger than a loaf of bread and just a Day old. John sleeps in a warming table crisscrossed by tubes and monitors a sort of puny version of Gulliver of. Gulliver s travels. He is purplish his tiny head shaved so. Veins could be located to inject medication Jato. Lovely Quot Deadpan Jodi Marcello of the first. Glimpse the Polaroid snapshot gave her a year ago of her Newborn son. Born three months prematurely. Id die a Little bit every Tim hooked at him. It was my son going. Through that. Not the kid next door. Not the kid Down the Street Quot John is one of 338,000 babies born prematurely in the ? United states every year according to the Alan. V Guttmacher Institute a population research group. In the Early 1960s.More than 90 percent of 2-Pound infants born at least 10 weeks premature died but today More than 90 percent survive because of dramatic advances in a technology such As those offered at the neonatal a a Tensive care unit at St. Mary s Hospital in West Palm Beach. . A a a a. A a a. In the past several years the number of infants born. Prematurely has steadily grown according to or David Kanter,.medical director of St Mary s neonatal intensive. A care unit. The increase is largely a reflection of two and increased drug use he said la think the major reason Lajus that the number of Overall deliveries continues to grow so the premature. Population grows too Quot Kanter said. Quot we anticipate it a continuing to go a. When John was born a year ago at St. Mary she. Weighed 2 pounds 5 ounces and was just a foot Long. A while other full term babies were being bundled off to Homes John a 26-week baby was teetering on the Brink of life a and death a in the a Hospital s neonatal intensive care unit. By comparison the. Smallest surviving Preemie born nationally weighed about 1 Pound and was at 23 weeks gestation experts said. Look at the curly haired a Marcello toddler today however and you would not know what seemingly insurmountable Odds he has overcome. John celebrated his first birthday dec. 17, surrounded by family and a friends. A b r. A a a Quot he had problems in the beginning but look what i have. Now Quot says his Mother gesturing toward her adored and 1 adorable son dressed in a new York Yankees outfit. Quot he a Miracle baby Quot ,. The 20-Pound toddler scoots around his family s. Kitchen in a Mickey mouse Walker impish by running Down everything in his path including the family Labrador Guido John Marcello has caught up in every Way with other children his age and has no lingering d i s a b i family a says and judging by the stoicism he exhibited when he Cut his , is perhaps better equipped to withstand pain because of his experience As a Preemie his Mother says. A Quot he s up to snuff now. It s amazing totally to i gushed Quot he says Dada he crawls to stands in his. Playpen and cub he s almost ,. While she is ecstatic about How things have worked out a for her son Jodi is haunted still by memories of her. Newborn struggling for life a Quot John is my first and Only baby. For All the months i went through watching him i could not go through that again. I Don t think an adult could take what tins baby Wen Page 14 a a a the stars and stripes through and go on. Thank god he won t remember., a a a Mommy to forget too.�?�. Throughout the first six months of her pregnancy. Jodi a self proclaimed health Freak Quot was pronounced in by her doctors. Unexplained fibroid tutors were growing in her uterus but Jodi was told they would not interfere with a Normal pregnancy and were a \ harmless she said. All went Well until her 26th week of pregnancy when Jodi 30, developed intense Back and stomach pains. When she went to the Hospital medical staff pumped medication into her that was designed to suppress labor which had begun. Athe doctor told me the baby would Dierf he was born now a Jodi recalled. A Hospital workers predicted Jodi would have to spend the last months of her pregnancy in bed but a few Days later her labor was still continuing and she was experiencing congestive heart failure. As the medical staff went into High gear to save Jodi and her baby Jodi recalls her hysteria y a. I grabbed a hold of my doctor s shirt Collar and i said you better not lose my baby Quot when John arrived by emergency caesarean Section he was whisked to a warming table and connected to a. Respiration and feeding tubes and numerous monitors. He was delivered by a Section because he was in a Breech ,. Position and his physician wanted to Miff Lotze trauma to the premature infant. A a Quot the technology a it blew my mind Quot Jodi recalled.,. In a fleeting glimpse that he was Given of John at birth. Quot Jops his songs tiny forr recovered in Fine dark hair and that his Skeleton showed through his skin both Hallmarks of premature infants. ,. Jodi a first glimpse of her son was the Polaroid snapshot taken by Hospital workers the Day after his birth. During visits with frer son after that her husband she said Quot would actually have to hold me up sometimes to look at the baby i d shake so much when i saw him he had _ Quot All those Vires connected to it. Him and he was Black and Blue from it All. What adult v could go through that quo almost a month passed. Before Jodi was allowed to. Pick her son up in her arms v for the first time. She was released from the Hospital within a week of his birth but it would take about two months and More than $250,000 before her new son would follow her Home to Lake Worth. Quot initially the Newborn breathed with the help of a. Ventilator because his lungs were not fully formed. After John s father signed a waiver an experimental medication called exo surf was administered to the baby that swung the balance in his favor it a. Exo surf which has since received food and drug administration approval is a new medication Given to preemies to depleted enzyme that helps them a breathe on their own according to medical experts. It. Helps keep the air sacs in their lungs open aiding oxygen. Intake and Carbon dioxide release. Quot exo surf has revolutionized neonatal survival Quot said or Jeffrey Litt a West Palm Beach obstetrician gynaecologist who delivered John Marcello. Quot five years ago we would have written the baby . Litt also credits steroids Giyen to Jodi in the 24-hour period before delivery for saving the baby steroids help Speed up the maturity of a developing baby s lungs. Too. There Are More hospitals like St. Mary s that Are now equipped with the technology to save Preemie once such equipment was limited to University hospitals he a a. Quot it really is a Miracle he Litt said. Quot it s the number of infants bom prematurely in the unit 3-Day-old premature boy at a neonatal intensive car a a a a a. A. I. A a a a a. Always remarkable that 26-weekers will survive it s always a a. ,. Added Lisa Haessler a nurse who cared for John at St. Mary a neonatal Tensive care unit Quot John was really a Lucky , that he is born in the times he was Haessler a nurse with 13 years experience at St. Mary a credits the recent Industry wide Fine tuning of monitoring equipment such As blood pressure equipment with improving the prospects for preemies. A fifty six Days after his birth John went Home with his parents. A breathing Monitor accompanied him and like the nurses Jodi Marcello would find herself shaking her son to restart his breathing when the Monitor s alarm went off every other night or so. It would be five months before he was weaned off the Monitor. Quot i d kind of live on the Edge of my bed waiting for the alarm to go off Quot Jodi recalled neither Jodi nor her physician know what caused a John s premature birth to have had something to do with the unexplained fibroid tutors that grew during her pregnancy. It might have been precipitated by some unknown damage Jodi received from a drug her own Mother took when she was trying to get pregnant with Jodi. y Quot i Don t really care what it was Quot Jodi said Quot i m just proud of my Little one and i just want people to know they do gome out Fine. Course she a laugh a i would t recommend everyone do it this a. Tuesday i Don t think an adult could. Take what this baby went through and go on. Thank god be won t remember a a Jodi Marcello
