A simple vacation to Vietnam turned into crisis for one Singaporean couple after the pregnant mother began experiencing complications.
Neither parent expected the baby to arrive at the end of the second trimester, but the couple had to rush to a local hospital after she began showing worrying symptoms.
According to the Tuoi Tre News, the woman was admitted to Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children on 16 March — just one day before her flight back to Singapore.
At the hospital, doctors diagnosed her with severe preeclampsia, which threatened the lives of both the mother and the unborn infant.
They attempted to prolong the pregnancy, and bought themselves two weeks.
But by 27 March, things were looking dire.
The medical team at Da Nang Hospital then opted for an emergency delivery.
The baby was successfully delivered at just 720 grams.
However, because of the extremely premature birth, the infant suffered multiple complications such as respiratory distress, pulmonary hypertension, and blood glucose disorders.
Source: Bệnh viện Phụ Sản – Nhi Đà Nẵng on Facebook
Fortunately, after going through intensive treatment, the baby was discharged from the hospital after 100 days on Monday (22 June).
She weighed 2,655 grams.
The hospital has since shared photos of the happy couple and their baby on social media.
Also included in the post was a letter that the father wrote to say thank you to the team.
In it, the man wrote about how the couple expected the trip to just be a short holiday in Vietnam before suddenly being thrust into a medical emergency.
“We have to face life and death in a foreign country and communicating using only Google Translate,” he wrote.
“Although language and communication with translation was a big hurdle but it was overcome by the friendliness and kind helpfulness of the doctors and nurses.”
Source: Bệnh viện Phụ Sản – Nhi Đà Nẵng on Facebook
Huynh Thi Le, who heads the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, noted the difficulty of communicating with the couple during their stay.
“We were fortunate to have the help of a team of kind doctors and nurses,” the father wrote.
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Featured image adapted from Bệnh viện Phụ Sản – Nhi Đà Nẵng on Facebook.