Just 10 ounces at birth, Sophia amazes doctors

PORTLAND - Many doctors would have taken one look at the 10-ounce newborn and given up. But Dr. Ron Sklar went to work, and now Sophia Epiphany Louise Wisdom is the smallest surviving baby ever in Oregon.

It was the evening of March 5 when Sophia was born. She wasn't breathing, so Sklar reached for the equipment that would keep her alive - a ventilator, heart-rate monitor to follow the pumping of her M&M-sized heart, an IV to keep her hydrated and a radiant pad to keep her warm.

On Friday, the 5-week-old girl was introduced to the media, and her improving health continues to amaze doctors and staff at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

"They say the camera adds 10 pounds," joked her father, Robert Wisdom, 28, of Carlton, a town of about 1,500 people near McMinnville. "In her case, that's probably a good thing."

Since her birth by Caesarean section, Sophia hasn't had cranial bleeding, which often causes blindness, mental retardation and other problems in premature babies. She is breathing by herself, and at 1 1/2 pounds, she has nearly doubled in weight.

"When I look at her, I just stare, she is so beautiful to me," Wisdom said.

He and his wife Tracy, 29, whose autoimmune disease likely caused complications in her pregnancy, want the child to live, even if she is severely disabled.

"Whatever happens, this child will be loved," he said. "We've got a lot of love in this family."

Upstairs in the hospital's neonatal intensive-care unit, Sophia opened her dark eyes and turned quickly toward her mother's voice whispering through a portal in her incubator.

"Hi, Sweetie, how are you doing in there?" asked her mother, reaching through the little door to adjust Sophia's pink and white cap and to stroke her cheek. "You heard that, didn't you? It's me!"

Sophia has a 60 percent to 70 percent chance of survival, Sklar said, and her sex works in her favor. Girls mature faster, even as fetuses, and a tiny girl has a better chance of survival than an equal-sized boy, doctors say.

"I think she's been a better fighter than many preemies," Sklar said. "She happened to be born with good genes. There may be a spiritual aspect to this, too. . . . There has been a lot of praying."

For now, Sophia's biggest challenge will be warding off infections and feeding-related problems. Her family will have to wait for years to know if she has suffered various sorts of visual, neurological or other impairments, Sklar said.

"They will be living day by day for a long time," said Sandy Hunnicutt, a Portland mother who gave birth to the next-smallest baby to ever survive in Oregon. William weighed 12.8 ounces when he was born in January 1998 at Providence St. Vincent.