Miracle Power of Touch
Australian mother Kate Ogg was told her newborn, premature son Jamie had died after efforts to resuscitate him failed shortly after his birth. Yet Kate and husband David decided to practice what Australians call “kangaroo care,” where an infant is held skin-to-skin to their mother or father, generating heat for the newborn, much like a baby kangaroo receives in its mother’s pouch, reported NBC’s “Today” show in September.
The Oggs reported that they had hoped for an extra minute or two with their son before saying “good-bye” forever, but it eventually extended more than two hours as reflex movement, then breathing, and finally the opening of Jamie’s eyes led the disbelieving hospital team to reverse their pronouncement and declare that a mother’s touch had indeed resuscitated her infant.
“He wasn’t moving at all and we just started talking to him,” said Kate. “We told him what his name was and that he had a sister…and all the things we wanted to do with him throughout his life. A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle.”
Jamie and twin sister, Emily, are now 7 months old and thriving.
