170-kg ‘morbidly obese' woman gives birth to healthy child

New Delhi, June 9: Harjot Badhwar and his wife Nitika were as happy as any other couple when they heard about her pregncy. But at 170 kg, Nitika was ‘morbidly obese’, according to her doctors and she had a history of family complications. All this weighed down on the couple till Shaurya was born at Max Hospital on April 25 this year - a perfectly normal and healthy child. “All thanks to Dr. Uma Vaidyathan’s sincere care and treatment,” Nitika told IANS with a smile on her face and brimming with the joy of motherhood.

Thirty-year-old Nitika’s case was special as had been obese for a long time. Even her mother had the condition. Nikita was likely to face increased risk of complications during pregncy. “We were very afraid of the complications due to the body weight and I also had a weak uterus,” Nitika said.

Morbid obesity, especially a weight as high as Nitika’s comes with numerous risk factors and high possibility of miscarriage. Studies have found that obese women are twice as likely to have miscarriages as compared to women with a normal or slightly overweight body mass index (BMI). “There were several intra-operative issues like accessing the abdomen because of the obsesity which were tackled successfully,” said Dr Vaidyathan. But Dr Vaidyathan, consultant obstetrician, Max Hospital Pitampura, who was approached by the couple, realised that Nitika’s weight was not her only obstacle. Her blood group was a rare Rh negative. She also had a long family history of diabetes, suffered from hypertension and had thyroid problem. Unfortutely, Nikita’s husband Harjot’s Rh type is positive, thereby increasing the risk of Rh isoimmunisation where the child may be born with a hemolytic or blood disease. (IANS)