Stress in the Womb Matured 12-Ounce Girl

Sheyanne Danielle Welch, the 12-ounce baby removed from the womb Monday to save her mother’s life, may have a better chance of survival because her prenatal distress made her mature faster, doctors said.

Sheyanne, who was born by Cesarean section after only 24 weeks of gestation, was in stable condition in the neonatal intensive care unit of Martin Luther Hospital Thursday. Her lungs are growing stronger and doctors are weaning her off the respirator.

“They keep telling us she’s very, very strong, she’s very, very active, she looks good,” said Jim Welch, the baby’s father, an insurance salesman who lives in Anaheim. “They’re not making any projections.”

Although most babies born as early as Sheyanne, or as light, die within a few days, doctors say the Welch baby suffered stresses in the womb that stimulated her speedy development, which may allow her to live longer and more healthily than comparable infants.

Robin Welch, the mother, had hypertension, high blood pressure and liver problems that led to the baby’s undernourishment, according to Gloria Morales, the neonatologist at Martin Luther who is treating Sheyanne.

“It’s like the baby is saying, ‘Gee, it’s really crummy for me in here,’ and nature is saying, ‘OK, we’ll get you out of here, but we have to speed your development,’ ” explained Dr. Louis Gluck, a UC Irvine professor of pediatrics and obstetrics and the director of neonatal/perinatal medicine at UCI Medical Center in Orange. “This is a stimulus from nature for the baby to become much more mature.

“If she was born a normal premature, that baby could not live,” said Gluck, who helped start the first newborn intensive care unit at Yale University in 1960. “You’re seeing the extremes of what nature can do.”

Sheyanne will remain in the hospital, living in an incubator that simulates the womb, at least until November, Morales said.