RAINBOW STAR
Family’s joy as ‘our blessing’ Erika skips into new school without a care in the world
An East Kilbride baby born 10 weeks early and who spent the first six weeks of her life in intensive care last week started school.
Erika Ryder came in to the world on January 21, 2015 and was hailed by her family as their “rainbow baby”.
They watched on in agony as the now five-year-old was monitored hourly in the high dependency unit at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.
But last week they looked on with pride as Erika embarked on her primary school journey, walking through the gates of Kirktonholme Primary School without a care in the world.
Mum Kirsty told the News: “Last Monday was such an amazing and emotional day.
“Being at school full-time, she is loving it and is taking everything in her stride.
“Her prematurity hasn’t held her back and she’s actually taller than the average five year old.
“You would never know that she had such a vulnerable start in life.”
Kirsty’s first daughter, Lucy, is now 12 years old and was born three weeks early weighing 9lb 7oz.
She then tragically suffered a still-birth in December 2013 with daughter Megan.
In 2014 she fell pregnant with Erika and was classified as a “high-risk” pregnancy due to the trauma of the previous year. She was taken into hospital just after Christmas 2014 for bed-rest so that doctors could keep an eye on her.
But her cervix ruptured at 30 weeks and she was rushed in to theatre to deliver Erika.
The 35-year-old mum said: “Erika was born one day off of being 10 weeks early.
“She spent a combination of six weeks in the high dependency unit and intensive care.
“She was on ventilators and had to get blue-light treatment for jaundice.
“She was in the incubator for what felt like so long. She weighed 3lb 1oz, so for being so early she was quite big, but that’s due to me being diabetic.
“Most babies with diabetic mums are born a bit bigger because of the insulin, and that was definitely the case with my first.”
Thankfully, Erika got “stronger and stronger” and was eventually let out of hospital at the beginning of March 2015.
She would have been a week earlier had she not failed her car-seat test, but was eventually allowed out about two weeks before her March 31 due date – she was six weeks old.
Kirsty added: “It was a bit of a whirlwind.
“But now she is just brilliant and you would never know she had such a vulnerable start in life.
“Our little blessing. Our rainbow baby.”