In honour of World Prematurity Day, we're sharing the incredible story of baby Nur Zaiya, born 23 weeks preterm
Every year, 15 million babies are born prematurely. The sad fact is that one million of these babies will not survive. World Prematurity Day celebrates the incredible fight these tiny humans have to face because they’re born too early – and the parents who battle along with them. On April 2020, Rohani Mustani gave birth to baby Nur Zaiya, Singapore’s smallest preemie, weighing only 345g. Here’s her incredible story…
Meet Nur Zaiya – the smallest preemie in Singapore
A life-altering decision
In a story on Channel News Asia, we learned that Rohani Mustani and her husband had two hours to decide whether to deliver her baby or terminate the pregnancy. At just 23 weeks pregnant, Rohani was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia, which caused her blood pressure to rise to a dangerous level.
Despite the doctors’ warning — that the child only had a 20 per cent chance of surviving — Rohani and her husband fought on, and she delivered the baby through emergency caesarean section.
“Twenty per cent is still hope, rather than no hope,” Rohani said in an interview.
Hello Nur Zaiya!
Baby Nur Zaiya defied the odds and came into the world weighing a mere 345g, the size of an adult’s hand. Channel News Asia says she is possibly one of Singapore’s smallest babies to survive and be discharged.
After being delivered, Nur Zaiya was placed into NUH’s NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), where she spent four months. After seeing their daughter for the first time, it would be three months before they could hold her. There were also the other complications that came with having a preemie, including difficulty in gaining weight and a temporary hole in her heart.
All’s well that ends well
Nur Zaiya beat the odds! Six months after her birth, she now weighs a healthy 4.27kg and is meeting all her developmental milestones. There’s no doubt that her parents must be ecstatic that she’s caught up in size.
