Extremely premature babies don't have the
bone structure necessary to protect their
brain in a vaginal delivery. The c-section
was to prevent brain damage. The skin
injury is likely because very premature
babies have fragile skin - easily torn,
plus the uterus is small and there's less
amniotic fluid to protect the baby during
the surgery, so it's harder to do.
It's difficult to grapple with the issue
of abortion when faced with a live baby
delivered at such an early gestational
term. Some women don't know they're
pregnant until after 20 weeks (i.e. older
women who are premenopausal, women with
irregular cycles, or women whose weight
makes it hard to hear a heartbeat with a
fetoscope). I'm happy this baby is alive
and well. Reading the description of other
very early babies and their current status
was encouraging.
http://www.medicine
.uiowa.edu/tiniestbabies/ Despite many
problems much worse than Amillia's at
birth, these went on to have normal, full
lives.
