Premature Cresslawn baby survives against all odds
Little EJ had to stay in hospital for just over two months because he was not strong enough to go home
“We looked at him, our eyes didn’t have hope but our hearts knew he would make it,” said Tanya Mostert (25) about her nine-month-old son who was born two months prematurely.
Although little Eduard-Juan or EJ as they call him, is a healthy baby today, Tanya and husband Juan (25), who have been married for two years, went through deep waters to get to where they are today.
“We want to tell our story to let people know these things happen and sometimes we have no control over what happens to the health of a baby,” said the Cresslawn residents.
Tanya first started having complications 20 weeks into her pregnancy.
“I then developed high blood pressure when I was 28 weeks pregnant. My gynaecologist told me I was at risk of having a miscarriage,” she said.
At 29 weeks, doctors decided to do an emergency caesarean section. EJ, weighing only 1.1kg, was born on April 16, two months prematurely.
Although Tanya’s health returned to normal after the birth, it was not the same for baby EJ. He had to stay in hospital for just over two months because he was not strong enough to go home and had to undergo treatment to strengthen his immune system.
“One of the doctors told me he wouldn’t make it because he was so small,” said dad Juan.
“I was terrified and did not know how to take the news. This was our first baby and we had been looking forward to it since we heard we were expecting,” he continued.
EJ underwent four medical procedures in seven months, two balloon dilations, a blood transfusion and a broviac line insertion.
EJ had blood clots and had to go for the balloon dilation and blood transfusion.
“We saw from the scans that the blood clots were very big, this scared us very much,” said Juan. “At some point, he had a breathing problem and we took him to the hospital, but the doctor told us it was because of all the oxygen he had been getting when he was admitted.”
Today, EJ is a healthy nine-month-old baby, weighing 7kg.
“After the experience we had with EJ one would think we would not want to have another child but we do. Tanya’s gynaecologist told us that when we decided to have another baby she would have to keep a close eye on her so that we do not experience what we did with EJ,” said Juan.
