When the baby girl was born without a drop of blood in her veins, no one expected her to survive. But what happened next shocked the doctors and astonished the medical community
Emma had always wanted to have a baby. She loved the idea of giving birth and always dreamed of having an adorable little person who depended on her. There was something magical about it. So, when she found out she was pregnant in 2009, she got super excited.
During her visits to the hospital, everything was easy. The doctors examined her and confirmed that the baby was developing normally. Despite it being her first child, she loved the experience. The doctors even discovered its gender, a girl. Emma was delighted with the news. While she would have also liked a boy, secretly she had always wanted to have a girl because she had already chosen a name, Macy.
However, at 34 weeks, things started to go wrong. Speaking about the late stages of pregnancy, Emma says, “I had a feeling something was wrong. I was experiencing worrying swelling, and Macy had stopped moving.” The next day, she went to Waterford Regional Hospital, and before she knew it, the doctors told her she had to have a cesarean section.
They took her on a stretcher to the operating room. Before she could tell anyone, the doctors had suddenly discovered something quite worrying in the last scan, and they thought it was best for both of them. It was determined that she needed to give birth as soon as possible. After all, they did not want to endanger the mother’s life. Since Macy was going to be born six weeks early, it was crucial that the staff members of the Intensive Care Unit and the Neonatal Unit were ready to intervene in case something went wrong.
So, when Emma entered the operating room, she was surprised to see how many people were there. The truth is that she was more than scared. Everything had also been going on for months, and suddenly everything was moving so fast that her head was spinning. But what worried Emma the most was Macy. What was wrong with her? What had the doctors seen that worried them so much? She didn’t have time to ask, and the medical staff were so busy that they wouldn’t have had time to answer her even if she had. She only dared to consider asking the question 15 minutes later.
When Emma felt the sensation of the baby being taken out, she was anesthetized and didn’t feel pain. But she had the strange sensation that something was being taken out of her. She only caught a glimpse of the little girl before the neonatology staff took her away. Then she went through the operating room again, where they stitched her up and sent her to the Intensive Care Unit.
“I didn’t have the chance to see her before,” says Emma, recalling that terrifying experience. The nurses didn’t stop running to keep me informed, but everyone appeared crestfallen and confused with solemn expressions. The truth emerged: Macy had been born without blood in her body. Her veins were filled with a plasma-like substance, and somehow she was still clinging to life. However, as we all know, blood is the life force, and without it, her chances of survival were scarce.
Apparently, during the course of the pregnancy, Emma had absorbed the blood of her developing daughter, leaving the baby without her own. The doctors had to think quickly and were determined to help the poor baby survive.
They decided that the best course of action would be to give her a blood transfusion. However, it wasn’t as simple as they thought, and they encountered a small obstacle before starting. Emma recounted the problem: they tried to find a vein to take a sample, but they couldn’t extract anything. They administered the first blood transfusion through the umbilical cord, a procedure the doctors had never encountered before. With no established protocols to guide them, they were essentially making up the treatment as they went along.
Unfortunately, this lack of precedent meant that the medical staff had very little hope for Macy’s survival. Despite their efforts to provide the best medical treatment possible, Macy’s condition was dire. With no blood in her body, she required not one, not two, but three blood transfusions. Her entire system needed to be flushed, but her body had already started dying. Pumping the blood through the veins naturally and without help was certainly a remote possibility. But the doctors had to try something. They treated the girl for 15 weeks, and as time went by, she began to get stronger and was able to interact more with Emma than before.
So, Emma could only sit and watch as other people took care of her baby. But Macy grew and developed. Eventually, there came a time when the doctors were happy to discharge her and send her home. They just had to wait and see how things went for Macy. Perhaps the unfortunate start in life would affect her, even lead to her death. But then again, maybe not. No one knew how things would unfold. They simply had to let time take its course. They had to cling to hope because the truth was that Macy could have died.
However, as she began her first day of school, she was as healthy and fit as all the other children her age. Only a few knew the secret to her poor health when she was very little. Macy had not only survived being born without blood in her body, but she had also grown and prospered, becoming as good and stronger girl as Emma could have wished for. In fact, from the moment she came home, she developed well. This was a stark contrast to Macy’s condition at birth.
Macy exceeded all expectations and began to talk at 15 weeks. It was incredible. The doctors were surprised to find out that Macy was still alive. They had never seen anything like it. Even when they said goodbye to Emma and Macy at 18 weeks, no one expected the poor baby to cling to life. They were not pessimistic or fatalistic despite the predictions of the doctors. Macy resisted and proved everyone wrong. It was nothing less than a miracle and showed that even the weakest in life can become strong and prove all their skeptics wrong.
“It didn’t surprise everyone,” said Emma, beaming as she remembered her daughter growing up. All she wanted was to wrap her in cotton and take care of her. But it turned out that there was no need because she was fine on her own. “I will never love anyone more than my little Macy. She is my inspiration.
Now it’s your turn. What do you think of this incredible story? Have you ever heard of a child being born without blood?
