• High-risk pregnancy and neonatology experts at Al Zahra Hospital Dubai tell us how a multidisciplinary approach can lead to positive results.
• A high-risk pregnancy is defined as one presenting more risk to the mother and/or her foetus than a normal pregnancy.

“At Al Zahra Hospital Dubai, we specialize in high-risk pregnancies, and deal with them through a multidisciplinary team approach that includes medical care from an obstetrician, a fetomaternal specialist, endocrinologist, internal medicine and haematologists in certain cases,” says Dr Ghassan Lotfi, Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Al Zahra Hospital Dubai. “This multidisciplinary approach is necessary and important for the positive health outcome of both the mother and the baby.”

It is also important to acknowledge that a newborn baby has to go through a lot of physical changes in order to adapt to live outside the mother womb. Such changes can be easily be compromised in high-risk pregnancies. It is therefore pivotal for women experiencing high-risk pregnancies to make sure the hospitals they chose for the birth has Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) facilities that can take care of the newborn’s health.

Some of the most common newborn baby conditions that an NICU can treat are:

Prematurity: Babies born early before completing 37 weeks of gestation represent one of the common reasons for the need of NICU care. This is more common in high-risk pregnancies.

Perinatal depression: Difficult delivery scenarios especially in high-risk pregnancies can lead to reduced blood and oxygen delivered to the baby.

Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS): RDS represents one of the most common respiratory problems in newborns, which happens due to immature lungs.

Sepsis or infection: Sepsis or infection is one of the leading causes for newborn deaths and poor outcomes.

Hypoglycaemia: It is usually seen in preemies and other infants at risk for low blood sugar e.g. babies born to diabetic mothers.

Other reasons: These include babies born with low birth weight below the cut-off recommended for going home and severe neonatal jaundice not properly responding to light therapy.

“At Al Zahra Hospital we are fully equipped to handle medical adversities in new-born babies whether premature or otherwise. The youngest gestational age cared by Al Zahra NICU was 24 weeks, and smallest weight observed was 520g,” says Dr. Mohamed Soliman, Specialist Neonatology at Al Zahra Hospital Dubai. “Both babies went home safely with good outcomes and no significant issues.”