Armadale girl set for extra special 21st birthday celebrations

Nov 24 2011 by Allan Valente, West Lothian Courier

21st

A WEST Lothian woman who weighed just 1lb 9ozs when she was born is miraculously getting set to celebrate her 21st birthday.

Doctors and nurses were unsure as to whether little Cheryl Baird was going to pull through after she was born three months premature on November 28, 1990, in Simpson Memorial Hospital in Edinburgh.

She spent the first few years of her life in and out of hospitals, but, against all the odds, has gone on to put her health issues behind her.

The Armadale girl even celebrated her first birthday with a picture on the front page of the Courier back in 1991.

Now Cheryl, who has a 17-year-old sister, Kirsty, is getting set to celebrate the landmark occasion when doctors once feared the worst for her as a new born baby.

During pregnancy her mother Linda suffered from a condition called pre-eclampsia, which resulted in her having to deal with swelling and high blood pressure. The condition can potentially be fatal for both mother and baby.

Linda had gone to see her doctor about her swollen feet as she couldn’t get her shoes on. A few hours later she was being rushed her to hospital.

Looking back on that dramatic day, she said: “It was all a huge shock. I had only gone to the doctors because my feet were swollen. I didn’t realise what was happening. That was at about 2pm. From there I was taken over to St John’s Hospital, where I was kept for an hour, then I was rushed to Simpson’s in Edinburgh.

“I had an emergency section and Cheryl was born later that afternoon, about 5pm. I was only 26 weeks pregnant.”

As Cheryl was so small she experienced different health problems, including difficulties with her eyes and breathing.

“She had to get an operation on her eyes for a damaged retina and she could have gone blind,” Linda said. “It was a laser treatment and it was the first in Scotland. I remember medical students gathering round to watch the procedure.

“It was horrendous. She was in hospital for five months and was let home for a time then taken back in. She was out for her first birthday. She was in and out of St John’s and the hospital in Edinburgh up until she was about four or five.”

And now, as her daughter gets set to celebrate her 21st birthday, Linda has spoken about how proud she is of Cheryl, who is in her second year at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh where she is studying psychology.

She said: “She is taking driving lessons just now and had been at West Lothian College doing social science.

“Now she is at university and absolutely loves it. She just enjoys the normal student life.

“She was a determined wee child. She was, and still is, a real fighter and is very, very clever.

“I’m just so proud of her.”