Miracle tot just a little longer than a ballpoint pen
This woman lives only a few miles away from me - in the same area as my sister in fact. It was in our local paper... [/b]
A BABY weighing less than a bag of sugar is fighting for his life in a maternity unit incubator today.
To the surprise and delight of his parents, tiny Graiden Eldred was born alive and kicking after just 23 weeks and five days in the womb.
When his mum Anne-Marie Eldred (26) developed stomach pains less than six months into her pregnancy she couldn't believe she was in labour.
Medics told her that her child was likely to be stillborn and there was only a five per cent chance he would survive.
However, when Graiden decided to suddenly arrive the most magical words in the world came when Anne-Marie heard her midwife say: "He's alive".
But the tiny mite, who was little longer than a ballpoint pen and weighed 1lb 3ozs, had been born still inside his amniotic sac and he was already kicking to get out.
That was three weeks ago, and now Anne-Marie who lives in Stanground, Peterborough, is praying the day will come soon when she can take her son in her arms for the first time and give him a great big cuddle.
She and her husband Jamie (30) have been keeping a 24-hour vigil by his incubator at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital, where Graiden is being given intensive round-the- clock specialist care.
Today, they spoke with pride for the first time about their
little fighter who has been defying all the odds.
Anne-Marie said: "I know we are not out of the woods yet, but Graiden is determined. He now weighs 1lb and 14ozs and is beginning to look like a really sweet baby, but he is still so very, very, tiny."
She said that she and Jamie had been trying for their first child since the beginning of the year and were over the moon when she discovered she was pregnant.
But complications arose in the pregnancy when Anne-Marie discovered she had high blood pressure and one of her hormone levels was too high. The couple also got concerned when a routine Doppler ultrasound test revealed there was a slight abnormality in the placenta.
But what happened next was totally unexpected.
She said: "I went away to Blackpool for the weekend, but I didn't feel right. I was very tired and I wasn't sure what was wrong with me."
She said she suffered discharge and stomach pains, but thought she had a tummy upset and, on the advice of the midwife, took some paracetamol for the pain.
Amazingly, she even went to work at Atkins, in Orton
Southgate, where she is a financial administrator without realising she was actually in labour.
However, she then suffered worsening stomach pains and realised she was bleeding.
When she arrived at hospital, doctors thought at first that she had a kidney infection, but on examination it became apparent she was about to given birth.
Anne-Marie, who barely had a maternity 'bump' when she gave birth, said: "It was such a horrible feeling, my baby was far too early. I thought I was losing him.
"Me and my husband and our family were crying, it was awful.
"I was given some drugs to delay the labour so he would have a better chance of survival and the pains subsided, but then they started again. We were told that our baby did not have a big chanceof survival but we thought if he was born alive it would be because he was obviously a fighter.
"They put him on a heart monitor but there came a point where I just pushed him out, because I was sure that if I didn't do that at that point then I thought he would die.
"When he was born he was still in his little sack. When he came out of the sac my husband said he kicked the midwife's hand away. They put a tube down his throat so he could breathe and put him in an
incubator, I was so glad he was alive."
Graiden was later transferred to Addenbrooke's which was able to offer him the care he needed and has been there ever since. He is currently
battling a chronic chest infection but has been putting on weight.
The only time Anne-Marie was able to hold him was when she lifted him in the air for him to be weighed. It is likely he will stay in hospital until January, which was when he was due.
She added: "I just can't wait to get him home and look after him myself."
The pair have been staying in a side room for people who live out of the area and keeping a vigil at their son's bedside.
He has been put in incubators which give him steam baths so his brittle paper thin skin doesn't crack, and is on a ventilator. Jamie, who works as a sales assistant at Jewson in Werrington, said: "It is still a bit sad and we are still taking every day as it comes.
"Graiden has grown and he is now as big as my foot, which is size 12. My employers have been really good and have let me have time off to be here."
Anne-Marie said she chose the name Graiden after watching a film. She said: "It was in a rubbish film called Poison Ivy or something,
but I really loved the name."
The couple said they wanted to thank all the hospital staff at Addenbrooke's and Peterborough maternity unit saying: "They have been fantastic."
A spokesman for Addenbrooke's said; "Graiden has had a very tumultuous start in life having being very pre-term and very low birth weight, but the staff on NICU where he is being cared for say he is certainly a fighter.
"Staff on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) look after more than 700 babies a year, supporting the family throughout their baby's stay and encouraging the parents to become involved in their baby's care."
Graiden has all the love in the world backing him, but anxious days and weeks lie ahead for his family who have been urging him on and praying for him.
Experts say only time will tell as to whether Graiden will experience any long term effects as a result of being born so early.
This woman lives only a few miles away from me - in the same area as my sister in fact. It was in our local paper... [/b]
that hes okay xx
