Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn with Pulmonary Atelectasis

The operation was performed uneventfully, and a female baby was obtain^' weighing 5 lb. 5 oz. The child looked extremely pale and was very flaccid , She gasped at 2 minutes but intratracheal intubation and intermittent positiv'e pressure oxygen was started at 3 minutes because respiration had not coi1' tinued. The baby remained very pale and was sufficiently edematous for to use the term "hydropic". The liver was enlarged, the spleen was easil> palpable and there was a good deal of ascitic fluid in the abdomen. As soon as the intratracheal tube had been passed, 10 ml of ascitic flu^ was removed to relieve pressure on the diaphragm. Regular respiration established in about 20 minutes. The umbilical cord blood was investigated' The Hb was only 3.5 g%; as the normal level for a baby of this gestational age is about 16.5 to 17g%, this was an extremely low figure. The total bilirub111 was 7.5 mg% (upper limit of normal: 3?3.5 mg%) so this was also m?rf than double the normal level. These two findings, with a Coombs test whi<?