Maddalena Douse was born at 23 weeks — that’s about three months too early. Her parents never thought she would make it home. But now she’s home from the hospital in time for Christmas, which could be, in part, thanks to a pair of scissors that saved her life nearly six months ago.
Although most stories involving babies and scissors might not call up thoughts of saving lives. In Maddalena’s case, scissors accidentally left on a scale could have meant the difference between life and death for her, the U.K.’s The Sun reported.
Maddalena Douse was born at 23 weeks at a weight and stage of development deemed not medically viable. (Image: ITN News video screenshot)
In the U.K., preemies have to weigh at least a pound to be considered medically “viable,” or worth the measures it would take to save them in their delicate condition. Maddalena was lucky and weighed just a pound. According to The Sun, it wasn’t known that a pair of scissors on the scale helped up Maddalena’s weight until she was already hooked up to a ventilator.
Eight-inch Maddalena really weighed 382 grams (13.47 ounces) when she was born.
Maddalena now at home and a healthy weight. (Image: ITN News video screenshot)
Now, mother Kate Douse, 31, told the Sun her “miracle” baby is getting to a healthy weight.
“We never thought we’d ever bring Maddalena home,” Douse said, according to the Sun. “She now weighs 5½ [pounds] and is getting stronger by the day. She’s our little miracle and we’re so glad to have her home in time for Christmas.”
Maddalena with her mother and father. (Image: ITN News video screenshot)
There is a sad element to the otherwise miracle of a story. Maddalena did have a twin Isabella, who died a few weeks after she was born.
Watch this ITN News report with footage of Maddalena and her parents:
(H/T: National Right to Life News)
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (100)
macpappy
Dec. 24, 2012 at 6:42pmSo, one must ask; are they now changing the weight limit for what a viable life is. If not then what is the limit for really?
Report this comment
bennettpatches
Dec. 24, 2012 at 8:11pmThat’s what I was going to ask. I thought ANY life was worth trying to save. Looks like I was wrong.
Report this comment
sta
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:14pmOne must also ask, was Isabella NOT a pound so she was just left to die?
This is barbaric.
Report this comment
americansfightingforcommonsense
Dec. 25, 2012 at 12:17amWelcome to Obamacare America! This is what will happen here as well. The government will now decide who is worthy to live and who is not.
Report this comment
SerikFox
Dec. 25, 2012 at 12:25amA person is a person no matter how small. **** anyone who says otherwise.
Report this comment
listeninginVT
Dec. 25, 2012 at 10:34amyou are mistaking ‘state health care standards’ for ‘viable’ or able to live. The gov’t decides the standards not the Dr.s
there is so much blood guilt.
Report this comment
Walkabout
Dec. 25, 2012 at 10:37amAdvocates & practitioners of socialized medicine would have offed Stephen Hawking.
Report this comment
termyt
Dec. 25, 2012 at 1:01pmCan anyone read this story and conclude that nation is civilized?
Does anyone believe this is not the same decision making that will guide our once great nation?
Report this comment
Draculesti27
Dec. 25, 2012 at 1:42pm@walkabout….I agree completely…though Hawking wasn’t born in his current state. He was diagnosed with ALS in grad school (I know, semantics, just a little known fact).
Report this comment
Nanny
Dec. 25, 2012 at 6:57pmAn example of the coldness of socialized medicine. Aren’t you excited about your “free healthcare”.
Report this comment
Nanny
Dec. 25, 2012 at 7:10pmWhen the government is in control of your health care the outcome for the so called non-viable is at stake as is the health care of the elderly. America’s Obama care will have the same results.
Report this comment
bethsioux
Dec. 26, 2012 at 3:19pmmoney
Report this comment
TheTruthPrevails
Dec. 24, 2012 at 6:08pmOn the eve of the day we celebrate the birth and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ I sit here and shed tears of joy for this child and her family and tears of sorrow for the tens of thousands who are murdered every year in the name of a distorted, twisted and selfish world view. With the Lords help someday humanity will look back on these days and remember those children and call it what it is…..an atrocity…the American Holocaust..mass murder. God help us.
Report this comment
IMCHRISTIAN
Dec. 25, 2012 at 11:19amWell stated. A person who kills a child born or unborn, young or old will pay when they least expect it. Government or people are not God.
Report this comment
LeadNotFollow
Dec. 24, 2012 at 2:38pmSo great, to finally hear some good news.
This family will be having a truly blessed Christmas.
Report this comment
RSHLUVER
Dec. 24, 2012 at 2:38pmSocialized medicine is what low information voters asked for.
Report this comment
bo1921
Dec. 24, 2012 at 1:27pmI like to think some Nurse left those sissors on the scales “accidently,” if you know what I mean.
Report this comment
shagstar
Dec. 24, 2012 at 2:05pmmy thought’s exactly.
Report this comment
Excomunicatedmarine
Dec. 24, 2012 at 2:21pmInteresting that after the wrong weight was discovered they left the child on life support anyway. What the heck, the noney to save her life was already spent. Man are we sick !
Report this comment
TrueColours
Dec. 24, 2012 at 2:33pmI thought so too!!!! My 15 year old boy was a 25 week micro-premie too and weighted 1.1lb He is a Freshman in H.S., runs on the cross country team. . .perfectly normal. Viable? Heck yea! And girls usually do much better. Goes to show you abortion after 23 weeks gestation is murder and secondly that they are definately viable with today’s technology.
Report this comment
LeadNotFollow
Dec. 24, 2012 at 2:38pmGod bless that nurse.
Report this comment
Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Dec. 24, 2012 at 4:23pmComing soon to the USA. Decisions on whether you are worth the money to save. I pray that should one of my children be in an accident during ObamaCare, that they will be deemed worth saving.
Report this comment
bjornskis
Dec. 24, 2012 at 7:29pmthe person who left those is a Angel and hero
God Bless whom ever it was
Report this comment
Bro. Chuck
Dec. 24, 2012 at 8:02pmWith HaShem,
there are NO accidents….
Praise God that this wee lil one was not discarded….by those who do not know God -
who were wontonly prepared to end this tiny miracle’s life
May Adonai open the hearts, the eyes, and finally the mouths of all those involved and associated here to now proclaim HIS Awesome Greatness!
May we all be Bless’d through the testimony surrounding the child’s survival…
May the world come to know the Greatness of God Almighty…
Be Bless’d in Yeshua!
Bro. Chuck
Report this comment
TCPatriot
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:27pmWe can only hope.
Report this comment
christhefanatic
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:41pmOn the Blaze…or somewhere…I read that the progressive Chinese have, over the past 30 years, killed over 400,000,000 babies. They also routinely execute enemies of the state. The Chinese are pretty smart. They know there is no difference.
Report this comment
GoodStuff
Dec. 24, 2012 at 2:02pmThe Democrat party is responsible for 60,000,000 murdered since 1972. Roe v Wade exists and remains in place because of the Democrat party.
The two worst mass murderers in human history:
1) Chinese communist party (500+ million murdered)
2) Democrat party (60+ million murdered)
The Democrat party is ahead of the Soviet Union and the Nazi regime in terms of innocents killed.
Report this comment
Call2Action
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:36pmMonk, the sunglasses are to protect the baby’s eyes from the glaring lights. Two of my grandsons, twins, were premature (2lbs, 4lbs) and the little one had sunglasses, if I remember right.
Report this comment
zatzaowe
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:34pmCan you say death panels? If you don’t meet the body image of the liberal left you will be denied health care. If you”don’t get your mind right,” then the death panel bureaucrats can withhold health care. Just read the health care bill see for your selves.
Report this comment
hi
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:21pmWhat a job where nurses have to let babies die according to government rules. Sick.
Report this comment
christhefanatic
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:17pmLeft-wing magic word…”abortion” = murder. Thou shall not kill. Left-wing magic words…”fairness”, “re-distribution of wealth”, “raise taxes on the wealthy” = theft. Thou shall not steal.
Left-wing magic world…Thou shall not kill or steal…..well…unless…unless…you have a “good” reason …because the end justifies the means
What, exactly, is the difference in killing someone who is eight inches tall, or someone who is six feet tall? What is the difference in stealing from a wealthy person or from a poor person?
Don’t ask me…I can’t see it.
Report this comment
HMNSC
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:49amAnyone else concerned that scissors are just lying around and apparently on the same scale as the baby and no one at the hospital see’s a problem?
Report this comment
dnha14
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:02pmBecause the kid will pick them up and hurt itself? My teins were preemies and they are 22 now. Thank God for the scissors.
Report this comment
dnha14
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:04pmSorry! My twins…
Report this comment
CABERNETQHS
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:06pmMaybe it wasn’t an accident. Anyway, I’m a nurse and if that’s the only thing that goes wrong during your shift, thank the Lord!
Report this comment
psadie
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:08pmThank you to the nurse who deliberately left the scissors on the scale to up the baby’s weight. She saved her life. GOD works in mysterious ways!
Report this comment
Todd P
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:12pmI’m guessing a nurse left it there “accidentally” on purpose, knowing it would save the baby.
Thank God we don’t have Socialized medicine here to make such rules. Yet.
Report this comment
Rowgue
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:41pmWe do technically have it now, they just haven’t officially started punishing people for not following the rules yet. But come the new year that all changes.
Report this comment
Mapache
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:45pmGod, in a bit of twisted humor, put the scissors on the scale.
Report this comment
1956
Dec. 24, 2012 at 1:04pmThose scissors were not left there by accident. I believe in Divine intervention, even when it comes to the small things, like a precious baby.
Report this comment
HANDSOFGRACEARELIFTED
Dec. 26, 2012 at 2:24pmHmnsc, sounds like you are not viable. Terrible post, nazi.
Report this comment
Vickie Dhaene
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:44amBlessed be the Father for He is the Creator of Life.
Report this comment
elkonian
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:40amMy daughter was also born at 23 weeks, and we were told she would not be viable. I never prayed so hard in my life at that time. She weighed 1 lb 4 oz, but because her body wasn’t ready for food, she dropped to 14 oz.
Today she is 27. She is blind, but is doing very well. Since that time, there has been a lot of medical advances for helping preemies, so hopefully little Maddalena will be just fine.
Report this comment
TheTruthPrevails
Dec. 24, 2012 at 6:11pmGod bless you…it’s parents and families like yours this country so desperately needs.
Report this comment
COFemale
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:34amThank goodness for a small screw up. If I read this article correctly, the hospital would have just let the baby die since she was not at 1 lb. Who are they to judge whether the baby is “viable”. Maybe we should leave that up to God, not doctors. I think it should be parents ultimate decision, not some bureaucrat who does not diddly about medicine.
Welcome to socialism. It has already started where the STATE decides who lives and dies. Infanticide at its’ finest. DEATH PANELS.
Report this comment
capelady
Dec. 24, 2012 at 3:51pmThat is exactly what happens all the time in the US when babies survive partial birth abortions and are shoved aside and allowed to die. It is infanticide and we tolerate it because of liberal policy.
Report this comment
kathystone
Dec. 24, 2012 at 8:22pmIt is already happening. I had a friend who became a nurse on a state grant. The trade off was she had to work at a county facility. Her job was to “bucket the aborted fetuses that were not dead”. Seriously! She had to put them in a bucket of water and drown them! She protested but was told to get over it! Now, after she and others raised the red flag, the “Misaborted” babies are put in a cold closet to die. She no longer works there.
Report this comment
dave88
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:34amUnder Obamacare they can kill you anytime up until you are three years old.
Report this comment
JQuentinEvermann
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:48amWell, that’s just not true. There are many Dems who want that, Obama and Pelosi among them, but it isn’t in that illegitimate legislation known as Obamacare.
However, this should show you that in England, with this type of health care system, if the hospital determines it isn’t worth their time or effort, they just let you die.
Report this comment
Tri-ox
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:28am“In the U.K., preemies have to weigh at least a pound to be considered medically “viable,” or worth the measures it would take to save them in their delicate condition.”
This is just one of the wonderful effects that obamacare will bring to the U.S. – obama and his anti-life cabal are making a list, and checking it twice – to decide who is worthy of life-saving medical treatment.
Report this comment
South Philly Boy
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:11amYes it is a MIRACLE… GOD Bless
Report this comment
Lawyer629
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:08amYeah…
Report this comment
rsanchez1
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:41amOf course, if it wasn’t for the rationing of health care they have in the UK, she wouldn’t have needed scissors anyway.
Report this comment
1389AD
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:21amIf the baby displays vital signs after delivery then an effort should be made to keep those vital signs going, and that’s that. Anything else is infanticide.
Report this comment
biohazard23
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:23amGod bless that baby girl and her sister. And thank God for a nurse leaving those scissors on the scale.
My twins were 2 months early and one weighed 4 lbs, 1 oz, and her sister weighed 1 lb, 12 oz. the little one’s cord just stopped working and they couldn’t figure out why. They’re now 11 years old and the smaller/younger one is taller than her sister. :)
Report this comment
thekuligs
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:01amThat is good story! My twins were huge, 6lbs3oz each at almost 38 weeks; people always said how rough it must have been carrying around that much kid and I’d tell them, it’s better than the alternative! They should ask the parents of preemies which they would have preferred.
Report this comment
biohazard23
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:22amHoly cow, that’s HUGE!! I had an emergency c-section because of our little one. Our baby boy was born earlier this year and he weighed more than our girls did combined! If you’re anything like me, I’ll bet your twins are kinda-sorta-well-maybe-just-a-little-bit spoiled, aren’t they? Not rotten, mind you, just a little spoiled. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Report this comment
grimmster
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:21amViable? It amazes me how the britts have closed the gap between them, and hitler,in the way they see human life.This is pathetic, and in my opinion, grounds enough to stop all aid to england,and end our ties with them,they are not not but one step away from the very ideology they fought against, in WW2.Yep, all those ism’s work so very well, social”ism”,marx”ism”,commun”ism”………
Report this comment
dissentnow
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:12amIt is so sad that a baby has to be deemed “viable” in order to be saved. Is this what we have to look forward to in America?
Report this comment
Cavallo
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:29amYes. For the elderly as well. This is what Amerika voted for.
Report this comment
beps
Dec. 24, 2012 at 1:56pm@Cavallo; No, technically, this is what was forced on the USofA! Liberals always manipulate what they know Americans will never vote for, like abortion & higher taxes!
Report this comment
Dismayed Veteran
Dec. 26, 2012 at 12:17pmCal
I will be 65 in August 2013. I will also be non-viable. While the effectiveness of medical procedures are capable of saving me, there no efficiency in spending the money. Using the industrial model, both efficiency and effectiveness must be present to justify the capital expenditure. The absence of one or both simply dictates that no capital is invested in a non-viable product.
Report this comment
RJJinGadsden
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:07amIn 1990 the newly assigned ObGyn physician where I was stationed freaked out as my wife went into labor and had us flown to a larger city to a hospital known for its premature care. My son was 7 pounds 2 ounces at birth and we certainly knew that he was not a premy. A bit jaundiced they kept him in that ward for a couple of days. Well, this big, old, mean, tough soldier was almost in tears as I sat in that ward with my newborn son in a rocker several times a day. The nurses there were already spoiling him too. They told me that he was the only one they could remove from those basin like cribs and also sit and rock him. Afterwards we stayed in touch with some of them for a short while and even sent fruit baskets to those who took special care of my wife prior to delivery. I was happy to find out that all of those premies in the ward with him did survive. And, there were a couple so tiny that they looked smaller than the average child’s doll.
This family has received a very special Christmas gift, and God bless them.
Report this comment
biohazard23
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:40amGood morning, RJ, and Merry Christmas!
Read this. It’s very similar to the experience I had in the NICU at this hospital with my girls. It’s a long read (3 parts) but very much worth it. It brought back all of the emotions for me like it was yesterday. Very moving and thought-provoking. Enjoy!
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2012/reports/juniper/
Report this comment
RJJinGadsden
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:09amBIOHAZARD, A jolly good morning to you and wishes for a Merry Christmas as well. Thank you for posting that link. A very telling story. I’m a bit undecided whether to show this to my wife of not. She has been a diabetic since childhood, and had a very rough pregnancy. That is why we only have our one son. I recall many recommending an abortion, but we would have nothing to do with that. Neither of two OB Gyns ever suggested such anyway. You as well must know how so many libs worship at the alter of death and have an overwhelming desire to suggest abortion whenever they hear of a pregnancy. Okay, enough of this rant.
Again, please have a Merry Christmas. Oh yeah, and as EASTINFECTION recommended on another story. Here is a wish for you atheists and libs in general to have a happy Tuesday tomorrow.
Report this comment
biohazard23
Dec. 24, 2012 at 11:24amRJ, muah! :)
Report this comment
The-Monk
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:01pmMorning guys,
Is that a tiny pair of sunglasses in the first photo?
Report this comment
biohazard23
Dec. 24, 2012 at 12:22pmGood morning/afternoon, Monk!
Yes sir, those protect the baby’s eyes from the UV light used to treat neonatal jaundice.
Report this comment
The-Monk
Dec. 24, 2012 at 1:41pmThanks Biohazard23.
Report this comment
AnotherExDem
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:06amImagine all the other babies who could have been saved. She’s beautiful, God bless her and her family.
Report this comment
bornandraisedconservative
Dec. 24, 2012 at 9:46pmAdd your comments
Report this comment
CHROME_PLATED_HEART
Dec. 24, 2012 at 10:03amU.K. death panels…coming to America soon.
Report this comment
Proud Stray Dog
Dec. 24, 2012 at 2:03pmAlready here, and called the Affordable Healthcare Act. They are already telling the elderly thier bennies are expiring if they are no longer “viable”.
Report this comment