Christmas dream comes true
Couple’s joy as little miracle Sofia gets home in time for the big day
All they wanted for Christmas was their 1lb baby home.
And the dream came true for Melissa Bernath and Scott McCubbin with the arrival of Sofia under the tree.
The premature tot spent 103 days in hospital- but finally got out two days before her actual due date on Friday. Melissa, 22, said: al can't believe we have her home for Christmas. It is amazing. That is all we wished for. She was delivered on September 10 and has been in Crosshouse since then with us going up two or three times a day.'
At birth, her tiny daughter weighed just over a Ilb-and at 756 grams fitted into the palm of a hand. She arrived rapidly after legal secretary Melissa contracted an infection.
Mum said: "I didn't know I was in labour but had tummy problems. I never thought about having a premature baby. I went up for a check-up and they discovered I was
9cm dilated. I pushed Sofia out and she made a tiny squeak.
“We were both in tears. The doctors just whisked her away. I felt so helpless as she was in an incubator.
“I blamed myself and kept thinking: ‘ She should be in my belly and still growing’. It was so hard as I couldn’t hold her for four weeks and could only touch her hand.”
Dad Scott, 28, a mechanic, said: “They told us she had a 50/ 50 chance of survival. I could have sat her in my palm she was so tiny. But I couldn’t believe how much she moved about – she was always kicking off her blankets.”
Disaster struck when Sofia contracted an infection when she was a week old. Melissa said: “The consultant told us she was the sickest baby in the ward. That was really hard. But she came through that. It has been like a roller- coaster, up and down since she was born.”
There were five attempts to get Sofia off the ventilator, which enabled her to breathe. And she was in intensive care for eight weeks.
Now at home and weighing just more than 5lbs, she relies on oxygen and medication to make her stronger.
Legal secretary Melissa said: “People say she is tiny but we think she is quite big now compared to how she was.”
Snugly wearing a Mrs Claus outfit, blue- eyed Sofia looks right at home in her parent’s Dalrymple house.
Melissa said: “She is definitely strong and fought so hard to get here. She is our miracle. Our Christmas wish has come true.”