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Miracle Baby Born at 25 Weeks

By Lesley McDermid

I went into premature labor at 25 weeks and delivered a little, little girl at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, AB. She weighed only 680 grams (1 pound 8 ounces). We only gave her a few hours, if that, to live - but lo and behold, my little miracle is sitting beside me right now, just a couple of weeks away from her first birthday.

The road to her recovery was long; she spent five months in the hospital, had four major operations (heart surgery before she was 2 pounds!)and went through countless ups and downs in her health before we could bring her home. The ending is a happy one though; she suffered no brain damage, her sight, hearing, and development so far is 100%. She weighs a whopping 17 pounds now!

Even though we are fine now, I know there are a lot of babies born prematurely that are suffering and it breaks my heart to this day. It also saddens me the roller coaster ride that the parents go through. If I had a dime for every what if I said, I'd be a rich woman. As for myself, I am not having anymore children as the risk of this happening again is too great, and I don't want to put another baby through that again, let alone my partner and me. I believe that was one of the most challenging times of our lives, as far as our relationship goes. I don't know if this is true, but a nurse told me that close to 80% of parents of preemies do not stay together. Scary thought.