“Trowbridge midwife raises cash as thank you to baby unit (From ... - This is Trowbridge” plus 3 more

Trowbridge midwife raises cash as thank you to baby unit (From ... - This is Trowbridge
Kidnapped baby, mother reunited for a moment - Nashville Tennessean
Baby Yair reunion brief, children placed in foster care - WKRN
Report: 13 million babies worldwide born premature - Modesto Bee

Trowbridge midwife raises cash as thank you to baby unit (From ... - This is Trowbridge

Posted: 04 Oct 2009 03:25 AM PDT

Trowbridge midwife raises cash as thank you to baby unit

1:00pm Saturday 3rd October 2009

A Trowbridge midwife is hosting a fundraising quiz night to help pay for a new neonatal intensive care unit at a Bath hospital after her premature baby was cared for there.

Katie Wells, who works at Trowbridge Birthing Centre, said she felt reassured knowing that her daughter, Olivia, was in good hands at the NICU at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

Olivia was born 11 weeks early on December 17, weighing just 2lb 3oz, after Mrs Wells, of Bradford Road, Trowbridge, developed pre-eclampsia 28 weeks into her pregnancy.

The 25-year-old said: "I had a fall outside of work and one of my colleagues wanted to check I was ok afterwards, so she checked my blood pressure and found that it was really high.

"My pregnancy had been straightforward, but on December 12, I was admitted to the RUH where my blood pressure was monitored on a machine and I was taking medication to lower it."

Despite taking the medication, her condition worsened and she suffered swelling, head aches and extremely high blood pressure.

This was affecting the baby's heart rate, so she underwent an emergency caesarean.

She managed to call her husband David, 26, a manager at Tesco in Midsomer Norton, before she was rushed into the operating theatre.

She said despite her midwifery knowledge, it was a frightening experience.

"Even though I knew what the staff were doing, it was still a much wanted baby, so it was very worrying," she said.

"I think they got her out at the right time otherwise she may not be as healthy as she is now."

Olivia is now just over nine months old and weighs 15lbs.

Mrs and Mr Wells have organised a quiz night at The Bear pub in Staverton tomorrow (Saturday) and, added to Mr Wells' Bristol Half-Marathon run, are hoping to raise £1,000.

The couple will donate the cash raised to the Forever Friends Appeal's Space to Grow Campaign, which is aiming to raise £4.7m for a new intensive care baby unit at the RUH.

The quiz is fully booked, but anyone wanting to make a donation direct to the cause via www.foreverfriendsappeal.co.uk.

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Kidnapped baby, mother reunited for a moment - Nashville Tennessean

Posted: 04 Oct 2009 07:28 AM PDT

Maria Gurrola held her baby Saturday for the first time since he was kidnapped last week, but the week-old child was taken from her arms again.

Little Yair Antonio Carrillo and his three siblings ages 11, 9, and 3 are in the custody of the state Department of Children's Services. They were removed from Gurrola's home Saturday.

"It's for the children's safety," DCS spokesman Rob Johnson said. "I can't tell you how long. It will all be reviewed by a judge."

No specific reasons were given for taking the children. Police will say only that the investigation into the kidnapping is continuing.

Joel Siskovic, an FBI agent in the Memphis division, said he could not say why the children were put into state custody.

"As of now, there's no indication that there's an ongoing threat to the family," he told The Associated Press.

Gurrola held the baby and spent some time with him at an undisclosed location, Johnson said. After the children were removed, the family could not be reached for comment.

Several key questions remain unanswered. Why were the children removed from the home? Why did the kidnapper target this mother and child? Was anyone else involved? If the kidnapper has been caught, what's left to investigate?

And for Yair Carrillo's family, when will the infant come home?

Earlier, family members had been overjoyed that the baby was found unharmed.

While the infant, 9 days old today, remains in foster care, police aren't saying what led a woman they identified as Tammy Renee Silas to target the family.

After a four-day search, the baby was found about 85 miles from Nashville near Ardmore, Ala., in a house shared by Silas and her boyfriend, according to police.

Yair was 4 days old when a woman pretending to be an immigration agent abducted him from his South Nashville home on Tuesday. Gurrola's immigration status is unknown.

Before the abduction, Silas, 39, who has lived in the state line town of Ardmore for about two years, apparently was pretending to be adopting a baby, telling her boyfriend the legal process was under way, according to police.

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Baby Yair reunion brief, children placed in foster care - WKRN

Posted: 04 Oct 2009 05:41 AM PDT

Nashville, Tenn. - Just days after being kidnapped from his South Nashville home, baby Yair Carillo was reunited with his mother on Saturday.

The reunion was brief. Tennessee's Department of Children's Services told News 2 that Yair, along with his three siblings, were placed into DCS custody on Saturday.

Carolyn Carey lives next door to 30 year-old Maria Gurrolla, the mother of baby Yair who was attacked on Tuesday. Carey's grandkids often played with Gurrolla's children, who she says, always seemed well-cared for.

Carey asked News 2, "When I found out they was taking all of her children away, I mean away from her. Why? Give us a reason why?"

A DCS Spokesperson tells News 2 they removed the children from the home because of safety concerns. Because of privacy issues he would not explain what those concerns are.

The spokesperson says foster care is generally temporary and DCS works with families to improve conditions so they can be reunited with their children. Reuniting a family has been the main objective of investigators in this case from the beginning.

In press conference just hours after investigators found Yair, FBI Special Agent Mya Harrison said, "No matter what happens, no matter what happens we got this child back safely. No matter what happens, this child has been returned and we have reunited a family."

The infant was found late Friday night in a home in Ardmore, Alabama after investigators located the suspect involved in Tuesday's attack.

Authorities currently have 39-year-old Tammy Renee Silas, of Ardmore, in custody for the abduction of Yair Carillo and the attack on his mother, 30-year-old Maria Gurrolla.

Authorities were led to Silas by the lead earlier this week from the Kia Spectra that was photographed at the Walmart following Gurrolla shortly before the attack.

It was determined that Silas rented the Kia from the Nashville International Airport early Tuesday.

Silas is charged federally with kidnapping.

She appeared before a United States Magistrate for the Northern District of Alabama Saturday morning and is being detained pending her transfer to Nashville, where future proceedings will take place in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Neighbors near the South Nashville home were relieved to hear the infant had been found safe and sound.

"Everybody around here has just been tore up," neighbor Susan Allen told News 2. "I had my grandchildren this weekend and I haven't let them out of my sight. We've all been afraid, because we're afraid for our own children."

Brandon Anderson, father of a 19 month old, was home at the time of Tuesday's attack.

"I can't imagine," Anderson said. "I don't know what I would have done if my son had been taken in that manner, where you're home and you get attacked personally. It's just terrible."

Previous Stories:

Oct. 2 2009: TBI releases suspect sketch in newborn abduction
Sept. 30, 2009: Police: Possible link between missing newborn, car
Sept. 30, 2009: Nashville mom recalls attack, abduction
Sept. 30, 2009: Police clear person of interest, Newborn still missing
Sept. 29, 2009: Person of Interest named in infant kidnapping
Sept. 29, 2009: Newborn abducted, mother stabbed in south Nashville

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Report: 13 million babies worldwide born premature - Modesto Bee

Posted: 04 Oct 2009 09:09 AM PDT

But take a closer look at the proportion of all babies born too early. Those rates are highest in Africa, but followed closely by North America, concludes the first part of a collaboration with the World Health Organization to tackle the growing problem.

How? "That's the 13 million-baby question," said March of Dimes epidemiologist Christopher Howson, who headed the project being debated this week at a child health meeting in India.

Different factors fuel prematurity in rich countries and poor ones. Wealthy nations such as the United States have sophisticated neonatal intensive care units for the tiniest, youngest preemies. That produces headlines about miracle babies and leads to a false sense that modern medicine conquers prematurity - without acknowledging lifelong problems including cerebral palsy, blindness and learning disabilities that often plague survivors.

Scientists don't even know all the triggers for preterm birth or how to stop early labor once it starts, one reason that the report urges major new research. Nor does much of the world even track how many babies are born too soon, why or what happens to them.

"These are conservative estimates," Howson said. "As shocking as this toll is, that toll will only rise" as next year the WHO finishes a more in-depth country-by-country count.

Yet even in very poor countries, there are steps to improve preemies' survival if only more mothers knew, said Dr. Joy Lawn, a pediatrician-turned-policy director for Save the Children who is based in South Africa.

"Even in educated families, there's a sense of fatalism if a baby is born preterm. There's no expectation they can do anything," Lawn said. "With pretty simple solutions, these deaths could be halved, but it doesn't seem to be a priority."

She points to Malawi, where traditionally new mothers have tied babies to their backs as they go about their day. Today, mothers of preemies are taught to tie them in front, under their clothes, kangaroo care-style, she said. The skin-to-skin contact keeps the infants' body temperature more stable, a key to survival, and they can nurse at will, promoting weight gain.

Now Uganda is starting to teach kangaroo care.

Babies born before completion of the 37th week of pregnancy are premature. The March of Dimes report found a small fraction in the U.S. are born before 32 weeks, the very early preemies who face the greatest risk of death and lifelong health problems. But even being born a few weeks early can lead to breathing problems, jaundice and learning or behavioral delays.

Among the risk factors:

-Lack of prenatal care to be sure the mother-to-be is adequately nourished and getting proper care for pregnancy-harming conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or infections.

-Smoking and alcohol use.

-Pregnancy before age 16 and after 35, or pregnancies spaced too closely, less than two years apart.

-Carrying twins or more.

-In wealthy nations, early elective inductions and cesarean sections.

Sunday's report is believed the first region-by-region estimate of prematurity, but it undercounts the problem by examining only singleton births to mostly healthy women, Howson said. As a result, it estimates 480,000 preemies are born in the U.S. and Canada each year when more precise U.S. government figures put that total at more than half a million in this country alone.

Whatever the precise number, the point is to increase research into the problem and note the simple steps to lessen preventable risks today, Howson said.

"What leads to a healthy outcome or adverse outcome are factors that begin far before that third trimester," he said, stressing care for infections and chronic conditions, better diet and family planning so the mom-to-be is healthier before she conceives. "We as an international community must think more upstream."