Miracles Of Life, Judges Of Death
Who's ready for a story that the media will either ignore, or completely miss the point on?
MIAMI -- Her name means resilient fighter and her doctors and nurses said she is more than that -- Amillia Sonia Taylor is making history.I've never been one to use the "viability" of an infant out of the womb as an argument for whether or not the State has the right to execute them, but it's always nice to be able to smack down even the most ridiculous of the anti-life liberals' arguments.
"To me it's just a miracle," a nurse on staff at Baptist Children's Hospital said.
Amillia is the new world record holder for a baby to survive through gestational age, according to the University of Iowa's national registry for the tiniest babies.
"We have a special baby here today because she was extremely premature at birth 21 weeks and 6 days," said neonatologist Dr. William Smalling. "There is no known survivor born this early to ever go home and not only is the baby going home she is thriving and doing well. It's a special day for us all here."
Surrounded by the team at Baptist Children's Hospital that has cared for her since her unexpected arrival, Amillia is now ready to go home. Doctors said they marvel at what the little girl has taught them.
"Well... I learned that we can work with babies this small," Smalling said. "Previously it was thought to be technically impossible."
"She showed us early on that she was a fighter and wanted to be here," said Dr. Paul Fassbach, a neonatologist.
Amillia was born Oct. 24, 2006. She was the world's fourth-smallest baby, weighing 284 grams (just under 10 ounces) when she was born. She was just 9.5 inches long -- barely longer than a ballpoint pen.
"We've never even really resuscitated babies this small right," Fassbach said. "Now, the recommendations for the American Academy of Pediatrics is that we can resuscitate babies that are 23 weeks or by birth weight over 400 grams. So, babies were considered non viable or too immature to survive outside the uterus if they were born earlier than that."
Doctors said that at 23 weeks old, their survival rate is 30 percent. Now, after nearly four months at Baptist's Children's Hospital neonatal intensive care unit, baby Amillia will be going home healthy and thriving.
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"I guess I'm still in amazement, really," 37-year-old Tayor said. "Even looking at her now, sometimes, it was hard to imagine she would get this far. She looks like a real baby now, you know."
"She's asleep now, but usually she'll look at you and you can talk to her and she smiles," Taylor said. "So, everything a baby is supposed to do for her age, she's doing, which is amazing. Sometimes there are developmental delays you have to wait awhile for her to do, but she's surprised us all."
"I can't wait until she comes home," Jacquiria Cade, the Taylor's soon-to-be-adopted 16-year-old daughter, said.
Meanwhile, here's an aborted 22-week-old baby - older than Amillia and therefor possibly "viable." (Graphic, if you haven't scrolled down already, and you don't want to see a murdered baby, then stop.)
Meanwhile, a judge in Italy has forced a 13 year-old girl to murder her unborn child:
Italian Judge Imposes Abortion on 13-Year-Old
- A 13-year-old girl from the Italian town of Torino has been forced to have an abortion due to her angry parents' opposition. The law states that minors must defer the decision to their parents.
- After the abortion, she threatened suicide after going into a frenzy, requiring treatment. Torino Archbishop Severino Poletto said "The unborn baby is still a life and I defend life whatever the situation." The father is her 15-year-old boyfriend.
- "Society must take of this child. I certainly oppose abortions but this case allows us to reflect on the situation. We have to take a step back and ask ourselves how this could have happened to a 13 year old girl," he said.
