leekheechuanThank you for your patience … I am continuing the story of Elaine.
Like I mentioned, The tiny Elaine was born not only premature, she was born at home unexpectedly.
My wife was feeling the contraction when the pregnancy was at 7th month. So I brought her to see her doctor. The doctor told us after examining the fetus that the baby was not growing since the 6th month. ( that explained why she weighed only 855g at birth ) and prescribed the usual medicine to control the contraction.
Since similar situation occurred in my wife’s first pregnancy, so we thought it was ‘normal’. So I sent my wife home and I went out to work again. Around 5pm, my mom suddenly called and was screaming over the phone that the baby had come out!
I panicked and sped home immediately; then called for ambulance from Sarawak General Hospital to come. Luckily our house is near the SGH.
When I reached home the baby was already out in a pool of blood. We heard her cried only two or three times. I was not sure whether she would survive. We just prayed. My mom told me that she came out legs first ( normal is head first ). I guessed it was a blessing in disguise that she was very much under-weight and came out without her leg stuck along the way.
After 5 -10 minutes, though I felt it was the longest 10 min that I had in my life, the para-medic came and quickly ferried them to the hospital.
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Those were the dramatic moments even before Elaine was placed in the incubator in the hospital.
After the full blood transfusion @ 4 days after birth and denied her milk ( was put on drip for one week ), her weight dropped to the lowest level of 755g only.
Luckily, her she responded well after the blood transfusion. Her jaundice subsided, Her stomach was not bloated anymore meaning her infection was under control.
After the emotionally drained first week, Elaine’s conditions stabilized and in fact started to improve. After that she was fed milk using a tube that went from her mouth to her stomach ( you can see it in the first photo I posted on 8 Aug 2008 ). From then on, her health was ok except some minor problems like slight low blood pressure. The doctor and nurses continued to monitor her heart beat; and other health indicators through regular blood tests.
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Doctor told us that only when the baby had reached the weight of 1.8kg we were allowed to bring her home. In actual fact we was out of the incubator only after about 7 weeks in the hospital. Then my wife was asked to stayed in the hospital to take care of the baby until she reached 1.8kg.
Welcome home, baby Elaine ... finally.
