'Ghost baby' has chronic foetal-maternal hemorrhage, survives

HOPE Juarez's family "knew that something was really wrong when they started pricking at her feet trying to get blood to come out and there was no blood coming out."

A now-healthy Hope with her mum and dad. Picture: Screengrab, ABC7

WHEN little Hope Juarez was born in Orange Country, California, last month, it was immediately clear that something was wrong.

Hope was born as white as a ghost, and doctors realised that the baby had almost no blood in her body.

"She was crying and they brought her over to us and she was really pale," Hope's father, Josh Juarez, told local television station ABC7. "I knew that something was really wrong when they started pricking at her feet trying to get blood to come out and there was no blood coming out."

A blood transfusion was ordered, and then there was nothing to do but hope that it would work.

"She probably lost about 80 per cent or more. She was pale. She was really white," Dr. Marielle Nguyen, a neonatologist at Kaiser Permanente, Irvine Medical Center, told ABC 7.

Little Hope Juarez. Picture: Screengrab, ABC7

As it turned out, Hope had lost the majority of her foetal blood in her mother's uterus, something known as foetal-maternal haemorrhage. While many babies suffer some insignificant blood loss before they are born, in severe cases the haemorrhage can be so large that it can endanger the life of the foetus, "resulting in foetal demise, stillbirth, or delivery of a severely anaemic infant," according to a November 2012 article in the American Journal of Perinatology Reports.

That article notes that the symptoms of significant foetal-maternal haemorrhage are hard to discern, presenting in subtle or non-specific ways.

Hope Juarez may have been saved due to the vigilance and "gut feeling" of her mother, Jennifer Juarez, who noticed the child had suddenly stopped kicking three weeks before her due date. Worried that something was wrong, Jennifer sought immediate medical attention and was given an emergency cesarean section, likely saving her daughter's life.

"So, please, please let this be a message to all you mammas-to-be out there," Nicole Fabian-Weber wrote for Cafe Mom's The Stir blog. "If your gut tells you something is off with your pregnancy, it probably is, so talk to your doctor or midwife immediately. Nobody's better living proof than Jennifer and Hope Juarez."

Hope with mum Jennifer. Picture: Screengrab, ABC7

A baby was delivered in England with a similar condition a few years ago, in the only other known recent case. Olivia Bearman was born premature and a ghostly pale colour in September of 2012, reports the Telegraph.

"It was a miracle she survived," neonatal nurse Sharon Pilgrim said at the time, according to the Telegraph. "She was incredibly pale when born and had difficulties breathing. There was no sign of blood loss prior to the caesarean or during the operation. It was only when we carried out further tests on Louise that we discovered the baby had lost blood directly into her mum's blood circulation."

This story originally appeared on the Huffington Post