‘I was thinking: how possibly can something that tiny survive?’
Baby Ayah, given just a 5% chance of survival, is now thriving against the odds thanks to the staff at the neonatal intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Wales. As part of a series of features for the Noah’s Ark Charity’s Tiny Lives campaign,
AYAH Malik was given just a 5% chance of survival when she was born 23 weeks and one day into her mum’s pregnancy.
Doctors said that even if she did come out alive, the likelihood of her having severe and wide-ranging disabilities was almost a certainty.
But Ayah – which means “amazing miracle” in Arabic – continues to beat the odds and is hitting all of her developmental milestones.
Her mum Christie said the incredible staff at the neonatal intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Wales ensured Ayah is now thriving.
“What greater achievement is there than to save someone’s life, especially one that was given little or no chance of survival?” said Christie, from Pontypridd.
“Having spent months in hospital watching other families whose outcomes weren’t as good as ours, I think about how lucky we are every day.
“I could have had a very different life, I’d prepared myself for a very different life, but Ayah showed me differently. She’s perfect.” Christie said she was overjoyed when her and her partner Wajahat found out they were expecting.
The couple had been trying for a baby since their second daughter, Aaliyah, was stillborn at 27 weeks in 2013 and had started to think that it would never happen for them.
Their joy, understandably given their previous experience, was also mixed with worry.
Christie tried her best to enjoy her pregnancy though and felt reassured that her regular checks and scans revealed a growing, healthy baby each time.
At their 20-week scan, the couple couldn’t agree whether to find out the baby’s gender and in the end Wajahat chose to, under the strict condition that he wouldn’t tell Christie.
As it turned out, Christie didn’t have to wait long to find out for herself.
Christie said: “We were decorating the house when I first realised that I was bleeding.
“I was only 22 weeks and five days pregnant at that point and I knew full well that babies born that early do not survive.
“I tried not to panic and rang my midwife who told me to go straight to the hospital for an examination.
“I knew straight away from the medical team’s faces that things were bad, but I didn’t realise how bad until they told me I was 4cm dilated. There was nothing they could do to stop the labour because I was too far gone.”
Christie and Wajahat were put in a room where a consultant told them what they already knew.
A baby born this early had less than a 5% chance of survival and if it did survive, would probably be severely disabled.
It was highly unlikely that the baby would even be born alive and would officially be classed as a miscarriage.
“We were basically being told that there was no hope and at that point I was swaying wildly between blind panic and a feeling of total numbness,” said Christie. “Losing Aaliyah had been devastating and I knew I just didn’t have the strength to go through it all again. But that was the situation we were in, with all that horror ahead of us.”
Christie was transferred to Swansea where for a while nothing much more happened.
But on the evening of the second day, still at only 23 weeks and one day of pregnancy, her waters broke and within minutes baby Ayah was born weighing a tiny 1lb 1oz.
“We’d begged them in advance to at least try and help Ayah if she was born alive and they agreed as long as she was showing signs of life and trying to breathe for herself.
“They took her to the corner of the room immediately and after what felt like an age, the doctor turned around and gave us the thumbs up.
“We saw her for only a few seconds before she was taken away and all I can honestly remember thinking was ‘how possibly can something that tiny survive?.’ She would have fitted with room to spare in to the palm of my hand.
“There was no honeymoon period that you often hear about after a premature baby is born. We went straight into a grade three and four bleed on her brain which we were told were very potentially lethal. I couldn’t bring myself to leave her side for a minute, I wanted to savour every second I was going to have with her.
“But the whole time, I couldn’t get the image of burying her out of my head. I’d been through losing a baby before and I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone, but the emotional pain of having your baby alive in front of you but knowing that you could lose her literally at any second is a level of pain I can only describe as numbing.”
Over the next few days baby Ayah was hit with pretty much every complication possible. And at the twoweek point, Christie and Wajahat were again taken into a room to discuss placing a shunt in Ayah’s head to relieve the pressure on her brain.
They were also told that, should she survive the bleeds, Ayah would probably be severely disabled.
“At that point I started to wonder