I couldn't sleep one night so I was browsing facebook trending news and I came across this story about artificial wombs. Reasearchers at Children's Hospital of Philidelphia have created an artificial womb in hopes of giving preemies and micro-preemies a second shot at life if they were born too early to survive outside of mom. Right now they are testing it on fetal lambs and it has allowed them to sustain life long enough for them to grow and develop more for the outside world. It's basically a fluid filled bag that brings them oxygen and replicates the safe and nurturing environement of the mother's womb.
I was amazed when I read this. I clearly remember thinking when Kayla was born, that I wish there existed some kind of bubble they could have put her in that would keep her safe and allow her to continue to grow, when my body could no longer do that for her, and here it is! This is exactly what I had wished for then. I'm not sure how long the baby could stay in there, I think I read that right now it's not meant to sustain life until term, but even giving the baby an extra couple weeks to develop their lungs could make huge strides in fetal demise.
The article said they are currently examining the lambs bodies (they had to be put down afterward for further testing) to make sure there isn't any kind of adverse affects on their brains and organs and they hope to begin using artificial wombs on pre-term human babies in as little as 3-5 years. I am just blown away by this. When I had that thought, it was in the back of my head that this could be reality some day, way way in the future, like 50-100 years from now, but to think this could come to fruition in just under five years is awesome. It would be 7-9 years too late for our girl, but if this could save even one family from going through the heartbreak that we did, then I am so happy for this extraordinary advance in medicine. Had this existed when I went into labor, they could have done a c-section since Kayla was breech and then zip her up in this giant ziplock and let her bake for at least a few more weeks. Imagine being able to see your baby inside the womb, outside of you.
Of course for moms who sadly find out that their sweet babies have already passed in utero, this won't help them. But the CDC estimates that one out of ten babies will be born prematurely. Of course not all of that statistic are micro-preemies....many of those could be babies born at 36 weeks who are perfectly fine, or even 30-35 weeks who are relatively ok and just need some time in an isolet in NICU (not that that is any less stressful for mom and dad I'm sure). But still, 10% of babies being born premature still means that's a lot of babies born during a time period in which this artificial womb could mean the difference between life and death. I would have given anything for Kayla to have just at least had a chance. For her to have a chance and the liklihood of her having any long term affects like vision or hearing problems, breathing problems, cerebral palsy, and developemental delays decreased because of the artificial womb allowing her to bake a little longer would have been absolutely amazing.
I'm sad that this couldn't benefit us, but I'm so happy and grateful that these amazing doctors and researchers could come up with something like this to save other babies. I have no idea if incompetent cervix is hereditary or why I had it, but knowing that the artificial womb could be in use for 12 years or more by the time Emily is grown and starts her own family is a comforting thought. My step-sister has cerebral palsy, she was born early too...my step-mom can't remember exactly how many weeks she was, but she didn't weigh much more than Kayla did, I think maybe a few more ounces (Kayla was 1 lb 1.6 ounces) so she must have been born somewhere around 22-24 weeks. Of course that was 45 years ago, so it's actually a miracle she even survived. But I see how she and my step-mom suffer from CP. Imagine families in the future not having to go through that, their children not having to live that life because of this.
Reading the comment section on the article was hard though....but I did it anyway, because I am glutton for punishment. Half the people didn't read the article and thought they were developing this so that rich people could grow their babies right from the start in an artificial womb. Even the ones that did understand that it's for preemies to have a chance at life, many people were of the opinion that "maybe mother nature gets it right and these babies shouldn't be saved". Ugh, I wish there was some spell you could cast on people who don't know what they are talking about so they would be physically unable to speak on the subject.
I did not go into pre-term labor because there was something wrong with Kayla, I went into labor because there was something wrong with my body. Off the top of my head, all of the reasons why women go into pre-term labor is because their body, or something affecting their body brings on labor, such as incompetent cervix in my case, a bacterial infection, hypertension, placenta abruption, etc. I suppose if the baby died in the womb because he had some condition like heart problems, trisomy 13 or 18, missing organs, etc. the body could go into labor, sensing that the baby has passed. But, in that case the baby would have already passed away when labor began and could not be saved. But I don't know how often the body does that. I know a lot of women who had to have D&C's or D&E's after their baby passed because the body did not go into labor on its own.
So more than likely, any baby born early enough to need an artificial womb is one that could and would continue to grow and develop in his mother's womb if allowed, so the mother nature argument is ridiculous. That's like saying the passengers aboard Titanic should not have been rescued by life boats or another ship because their ship was no longer able to keep them afloat. But, ignorant people who have no knowledge of the subject are usually the ones that are the most opinionated about it. If their baby was in danger of being born too early, I am sure their opinion would change. However, what I don't get is, I am certain many of the people with these heartless opinions do have children of their own. Why can't they think back to when they were pregnant, and think about what if they had gone into labor early and the doctor told them their baby wouldn't survive? Would they have said oh ok, that must be the way it has to be, mother nature must know what she is doing so I am fine with my baby dying. Ah, to be blissfully ignorant. Must be nice.
Anyway, here is the article for anyone that hasn't read it:
http://www.philly.com/philly/health/CHOP-artificial-womb-preemies-placenta-premature-baby.html
