Baby thrives after being given pacemaker for heart condition
A baby is thriving in the United Kingdom after being given a battery-sized pacemaker for a heart condition at birth.
This is after the mom, who had been offered abortion when the baby's condition was discovered in utero, chose life.
A report from the Christian Institute explains the mother, Rae Dawson, was offered abortion at 20 weeks when medics said her baby's heart was not pumping correctly.
At birth, Esme, just about five pounds, was fitted with a tiny pacemaker.
A year and a half later, she's "coming on in leaps and bounds," the report said.
Rae recalled when she got the news.
"The sonographer ran the scanner over my stomach and then he went quiet and kept looking at the screen. He asked me to move around a little to make the baby move and then he said her heart rate was very low. He came back with another doctor who confirmed that she had a low heart rate."
While the news was "devastating," she declined to go along with a hospital recommendation for "termination."
At seven days, the newborn was fitted with the pacemaker.
A report from the Daily Mail said now, Esme Byrne is "thriving."
The diagnosis was Complete Heart Block and that allowed blood to be pumped into the heart, but it was pumping out at only half the rate.
The report said doctors suggested Dawson's own body was attacking her unborn baby's heart. Autoimmune conditions – including Lupus – were blamed.
The pacemaker fitting was at Evelina London Children's Hospital in London and Esme went home shortly later.
The pacemaker probably will need to be changed as Esme grows, probably at age four or five.
For now, Dawson said, "There's no holding her back."
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