One of the biggest concerns for new parents
is the well-being of their children.
And a health complication involving kids
can really rock a family's world.
Just as it did with this next family.
Let's find out how innovative care and support
helped a newborn with heart health problems.
Looking at Cairo Brewer
and his mom Clarissa, you would never realize
that his journey to health has been a long one.
- Do you need cuddles?
- [Jane] About six months into her pregnancy,
Clarissa became concerned about the health of her son.
- He wasn't moving in my stomach at all.
So, it was just like a weird feeling.
Well, it was more of a mother's intuition
more than anything.
- [Jane] Clarissa went to the hospital
to get checked and some testing confirmed
she was right to be worried.
- And my placenta was detaching from my uterus.
And, they said if I didn't get there when I did
that both of us couldn't have made it.
And, they basically gave me an emergency c-section.
I was so scared, not even for me,
more so for my son because he was 24 weeks.
I've never known for a baby to live at 24 weeks.
- He was born just 650 grams,
which is just north of one pound.
So, he was born very early.
- [Jane] Doctors quickly discovered
that Cairo was dealing with some heart health issues.
He had patent ductus arteriosus.
- Ductus arteriosus is an extra blood vessel.
Every one of us are born with it in-utero.
It takes the extra blood from the lung arteries
into the main body artery, thus bypassing the lungs.
As soon as they are born, the ductus arteriosus
starts constricting and they close off.
But, in premature babies,
the ductus arteriosus sometimes does not close,
and that's what Cairo had.
Because of that, he had extra blood going to his lung,
steeling away blood from his body.
One in every 2000 newborn babies have this
ductus arteriosus that does not close on its own.
But, the incidence is much higher in premature babies.
- I used to cry everyday.
As a mother, you wanna protect your children
and it was a lot for me emotionally.
- [Jane] When medication was not able
to fix the problem, doctors turned to some new technology
when Cairo was just a few weeks old.
- We go through their leg vein and close
this extra blood vessel on ductus arteriosus.
There is no, virtually no incision.
This procedure is done within just few minutes.
- [Clarissa] He did really, really good.
They monitored his condition for about a week
to make sure that his valve was closing.
- He was able to breath on his own
without help of a machine and he was starting to tolerate
his feeding and he started to gain weight.
- [Jane] Cairo spent 128 days in the hospital in total.
Clarissa says what got her through
was the support of her loved ones.
- People who have babies in the NICU
they need support.
I loved my support system.
My boyfriend, he was very supportive
and he would let me cry on him.
- New moms who know that there's lot of help
available out there.
There are a lot of resources available
to the parents.
These babies can do very well,
even if they are born premature
and they can develop normally.
- He's our miracle baby.
He was six pounds when he came home.
He's about 12 pounds now.
Fighting spirit, most definitely.
- [Jane] Clarissa says she hopes
sharing her family's story will benefit other parents
of premature babies.
- If you feel something wrong with your body,
you need to go get checked out
because if I wouldn't have went,
me and my baby wouldn't be here.
He's just a good baby.
I'm just happy he's home.
Just happy that are family's complete now.