Dr. Gives Baby Zero Chance after Stroke in Womb. Mom Speaks Up 1 Year Later
For most parents, an infant’s crawling isn’t a miraculous event. Sure, every milestone for a little one matters, but few of us would call miraculous ordinary activities such as clapping or cooing.
But in the case of Marshfield, Wisconsin, child Naomi Kretschmer, her every action seems a gift straight from God. Why?
Because doctors saw next to no hope for the small girl to live anything like a normal life.
Naomi’s mother, Melanie Kretschmer, first realized something was wrong with her little bundle in May 2016. A 36-weeks-pregnant, Kretschmer had returned home from a family vacation when she realized she couldn’t feel her unborn baby moving.
Repeated attempts to goad the little life into shifting position proved vain, and doctors delivered Naomi via cesarean section.
Kretschmer wouldn’t learn the worst of it until hours later.
Naomi wasn’t breathing when she entered the world, and doctors had to immediately resuscitate her. She then had a seizure that lasted for a full 10 minutes.
After four days of examinations, physicians finally uncovered the truth: The baby had experienced a stroke with in utero.
Sadly, such brain injuries aren’t entirely rare occurrences in unborn children. For every 2,800 births, one baby will undergo a fetal stroke, and nearly two thirds of those will have permanent brain damage.
Naomi was one of the worst cases.
Doctors told the Kretschmer family that their daughter was partially paralyzed on the right side of her body, would struggle with language and reasoning, and would continue to experience seizures.
They were right — at least mostly. The little girl, who is almost 2 now, still has several seizures a month and lacks the easy mobility of children her age.
But she can say “mama” and “dada,” as well as walk with the assistance of a wheeled walker. Then there’s the crawling, a jerky scooting on her hindquarters that works well enough for Naomi to navigate stairs and everyday obstacles.
The family has excellent insurance that cares for virtually all of Naomi’s needs, but their experience with pediatric health challenges prompted Kretschmer to speak up for families without the same advantages.
That’s why she started the nonprofit Needs for Peds, which provides financial assistance for children in similar circumstances.
Doctors may have given Naomi essentially zero chance after her stroke in the womb, but the Kretschmers know their little fighter will go far. “I think Naomi was born with the heart of a warrior,” her father, Joe Kretschmer, told the Mansfield News-Herald.
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