Hospital sees rare childbirth procedure for first time in decades
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC/Gray News) - Doctors at a hospital in Georgia performed a procedure for the first time in decades.
Earlier this year, Reagan Barnard gave birth to baby Charlotte, but it was through a rare childbirth procedure called an ex utero intrapartum treatment or EXIT.
“We actually just delivered the top half of Charlotte and the bottom half was still inside the uterus,” Dr. Bradley Buckler said. “That allowed us to leave her attached to the placenta and umbilical cord so that she could continue to get the blood and oxygen that her brain and body need.”
For such a rare childbirth process, everyone involved had an important role. Communication was a major key, so preparation was a huge emphasis.
“We had multiple long meetings to ensure that everybody was in the right place, that we had the right equipment,” Buckler said. “It was a total team effort in terms of getting this procedure done.”
According to Buckler, a team of 31 doctors and nurses was in the room that day to help deliver Charlotte that day, a new record for the Memorial Health University Medical Center.
“I feel like we were honestly overly prepared, so I really wasn’t nervous that day,” Barnard said. “I feel like they cared for us like family.”
With members on the team who had never been a part of an EXIT procedure, having test runs was the key ingredient to a successful operation.
“It’s important for all of us to be in the same room and do a few runs of this so that on the day that we’re actually during the procedure, it runs seamlessly and that’s exactly what happened,” Buckler said.
Baby Charlotte has remained at the hospital since the procedure, but doctors said she is doing great, along with her mother.
“She likes to be in her bassinet or just hanging out by herself. So she’s little miss independent,” Barnard said. “But she’s been a calm baby, she’s content.”
This week, the family even got to meet the nurses and doctors who brought baby Charlotte into the world and thanked them for their work.
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