At this point or less a preemie's skin is almost a gelatin, so fragile that touching it can cause a tear. Fluids that evaporate out through the skin, lungs damaged by attempts to keep the child breathing, brains harmed by hemorrhage and organ shutdown contribute to the high rate of deaths and complications. At 25 weeks, the data show that the chances of a normal or nearly normal outcome are 50-50. At 26 weeks, three-quarters of the babies survive and grow up with minor or no complications. Tooley and head nurse Teresa Poirier founded UCSF's pioneering neonatal intensive care unit.
Studies begin on the long-term outcomes of babies who survive thanks to intensive care.
Premature babies and others at risk receive vigorous resuscitation before they are transported to the nursery. Staff bring parents into decision making, with support and information about their infants' chances of survival, and the risks of later health complications. Obstetricians at UCSF and elsewhere offer steroids to mothers in the first stages of pre-term labor. At birth, their babies can produce some lung surfactant on their own. Michael Harrison leads the first surgery on a fetus returned to its mother's womb.