WATCH: Prem-baby Ruaché: From 440g to 4.3kg
Mother, Mari, and prem-baby Ruaché spend lockdown quarantine together in Pretoria hospital.
Ten-and-a-half months ago, Ruaché Botha of Glen Marais weighed a mere 440g.
Today, she pulls the scale on 4.3kg and will celebrate 11 months of delicate life on April 15.
Her mother, Mari, elaborated on her medical progress in NICU, including surgeries to improve her breathing and feeding.
On March 9, Ruaché went in for a tracheostomy to insert a tube into her wind tract below the vocal chords so her lungs could fill with more oxygen. A peg line was also inserted into her stomach for optimal feeding.
“The peg line goes directly into her stomach. As she had pipes in her mouth for such a long time, she still can’t swallow properly. We’re planning to have her drink by herself soon,” said Mari.
Mari and husband Johan would have brought their baby home around the end of February but Ruaché suffered a serious setback. On February 26, Mari informed her family: “We had a huge fright yesterday. She turned blue and stiff and didn’t breathe. She’s so over tired.”
Since her premature birth, Ruaché’s journey in hospital had been a fight to breathe. Her left lung partially collapsed again after she had suffered a collapsed lung before.
“It [the operation] was very dangerous as she was so small but it was the only solution to improve her growth and breathing,” Mari explained.
Ruaché is not reaching her growth potential because of the respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) she suffers from, which can only be outgrown.
That was why her parents and doctors decided to go ahead with the tracheostomy, a medical procedure, either temporary or permanent, which involves creating an opening in the neck in order to place a tube into the patient’s windpipe.
On top of it all, Mari still receives weekly dialysis.
Because of the national lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak, mother and daughter are quarantined together in the hospital.
Patients are only allowed one visitor at a time, so Johan can only visit his baby girl when she goes for dialysis.
“We hope and pray that Ruaché will be able to come home before her first birthday. That will only be possible if she has healed properly and we are able to take care of her medical needs ourselves.”
It breaks her heart that her little girl cannot see the light of day outside but she believes her baby is alright, since she has no concept of home or life.
“By the mercy of God, we have made it financially every month. However, petrol expenses are high and the bills are piling up.”
Until now, the Bothas managed to cover most expenses but there is a big medical bill waiting once Ruaché is discharged from NICU.
But Mari’s faith cannot be shaken.
“We have an idea what the hospital bill will be and quiver at the thought of paying it. The Lord has carried us to this point, He will certainly not drop us now.”
