As I promissed to Kalya...
Here is a picture from my little daughter Aiko.
Aiko was born premature, 11 weeks too soon on June 14th, 2008.
At birth she weight 1043 grams and was 28 centimeters.
This picture was taken after two long months, on the day she arrived home.
Below the picture is my story on what happened on June 14th, 2008 and shortly after that.
This is what happened.
I didn’t plan to have another child after my eldest was born. The doctors advised not to have any more children beceause of an heart condition I have. However, despite taking the birth control pill, I got pregnant. This time the doctors were more confident that with the improved medic care, I could safely go through the pregnancy and deliver an healthy baby. Although there were still some risks, they were a lot reduced. My hubby, our eldest daughter and me, talked about having another child. I knew how much my eldest daughter would love to have an little brother or sister. She basically begged me to keep the baby and do not abort the pregnancy. After weeks of talking I took de decision to keep the baby. This is what happened when I was still 11 weeks away from my calculated date.
On Saturday June 14th , late in the evening, I was at home laying on the couch and watching television with my hubby and my best friend who lives with us. She was a trauma paramedic at that time, and also pregnant. All of a sudden I felt a huge pain and it felt like the contractions had started. With still 11 weeks to go, my best friend knew this was bad news. She called for an ambulance and told me not to push. Since we life on the country side, it took a while before the ambulance arrived. After 40 minutes I was rushed into the delivery room and soon after I touched the bed, my waters broke. Six minutes later Aiko was born, I hardly felt a thing and that scared the hell out of me. I had given birth to my eldest child after a full pregnancy, and her delivery took 12 hours. I knew very well how it felt to give birth, but this time it was so different.
Aiko was very small and weak, she was rushed to the IC. There she was put on oxygen as she could hardly breath. After they were finished with me, I was brought to the IC to be with Aiko. Aiko was already being prepared to be put into an neonatal intensive care unit. They put her on a heart monitor, gave her an intravenous drip with antibiotics. For the next forty-eight hours I couldn’t touch her or hold her, only watch her as she lay in the NICU. I was so very scared, she was so tiny and fragile. Her fingers and toes where not much bigger then matches. I could only watch how the hospital staff took good care of Aiko. They constantly kept me up to date and gave all the information on how Aiko was doing. At times I could just sit and watch, silently crying for my baby and hoping she would be alright. Then after forty eight hours I finally got to hold her. In her IC room they had placed an bed for me on which I could sleep. I had to lay down and Aiko was placed on my chest, this moment I will never forget. Aiko was so small I could let her sleep on one hand !
That first week Aiko struggled to stay alive, she came close to death one time but pulled through. After four weeks she developed a fever and that were again a few scary days. But finally after two months we were told she could go home with us. For me these two months were an emotional rollercoaster, but now that’s all behind us. We had planned to give our daughter a different name, but after her struggle we named her Aiko, which means, “The little loved one.” And until today she is our little loved one. She has been doing great since her birth, but for her age group she’s still a bit behind with development.
But that’s no surprise, she started 11 weeks sooner.
Mariko.
The picture below gives you an idea on how small Aiko was at birth, and no that is not Aiko.
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