During the later stage of pregnancy of our second child, my wife had frequent severe headaches. She would even ask me to pull her hair to lessen the pain. I brought her to the Good Samaritan Hospital, Corvallis, Oregon for check-ups regularly because her blood pressure was high.
On 27th March 1984 she was admitted to the Hospital. Around midnight pre-eclamsia forced her blood pressure to go up to more than 220. She was getting delirious and taking in lots of water. To save both mother (7.5 months pregnant) and baby (girl) the doctors decided there and than for caesarian.
It was emergency. They could not afford to wait for me to sign the consent form. They tried to contact my phone but I was in deep slumber. When I reached the hospital half an hour later the baby was already out.
At birth our baby, Dianelly is only 1lb 8oz. Her footprint from toe to heel was just about twice the length of a paper clip.
Immediately after birth, an ambulance sent our baby to Eugene Hospital, south of Corvallis. The paediatrics ward there being more equipped I supposed.
This was about the size at birth (not her photo) and hooked up to monitors - heart beat, blood oxygen etc. Her lungs were not fully developed so she was on lung machine to help breath.
In the ICU at Eugene Hospital, this is somewhat the array of medical machines and equipments to keep her alive for the first month in the incubator. (Not her photo).
After 1 month she was fit enough to be out of the incubator but still in the ICU. My wife is strong woman. A few days after delivery we drove down to see the baby. At 6 weeks old we brought Dianelly back to Corvallis. She was on heart monitor for the next 6 months.
The total bill for both hospitals ran up to US127,000. Fortunately my student insurance covered 75% of the payment and the rest by MARDI (Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute) my employer back home.
We were grateful for the community support and health care received in Corvallis. Premature clothes for the baby were provided to us.
Dianelly (left) not yet 6 months old with her brother. She was still on heart monitor but we took the risk to travel the Northwest by road.
Dianelly at four and half years old camping in frontyard of the house back in Teluk Intan, Malaysia.
When she was a teenager.
She now lives in Dallas with her husband and two and half year old daughter.
We would like to put on record our gratitude to the doctors especially Dr. Nusralla (delivery, Corvallis), Dr. Elliot (paediatrics, Eugene), nurses of Good Samaritan Hospital, Eugene Hospital, and health care centres that enable our miracle baby to survive and lead a normal life. May God bless them all.
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