Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 14, 2007

CORAL HARBOUR - Baby-Rory Maktar will be celebrating her first birthday on March 30 - a birthday health professionals thought she would never see.

Baby-Rory had stopped growing in the womb as her mom, Jennifer Maktar, entered her seventh month of pregnancy suffering from high blood pressure.

The baby was going to be born prematurely and the doctors didn't give her much chance to live.

Jennifer, 30, was told her unborn child had no more than a 10 per cent chance of survival. To Jennifer, it was unthinkable to even hear those words spoken.

"I didn't know what to think anymore because I was going through such a hard time," said Jennifer.

"My husband, Steven, and I decided to leave Baby-Rory's fate to our God.

"We were going to accept God's will no matter what happened."

Jennifer said the medical staff gave her two choices about 24 hours before Baby-Rory was born.

She was told they could induce labour, which would give Baby-Rory no chance to live, or they could perform a C-section to give the baby her 10 per cent chance of survival.

Jennifer said that was no choice at all, as she had to do whatever would give her baby a chance to live.

Baby-Rory was only six inches long when she came into the world at a minuscule 497 grams (just over one pound).

Jennifer and Steven watched and prayed as the infant spent months fighting for her life inside an incubator.

"I started letting myself believe she was going to make it after three weeks because she was passing all of her checkups," she said.

"The last test was scary because they thought she was going to start bleeding in the brain and develop mental problems.

"But she kept getting past every issue premature babies have to deal with."

Baby-Rory has been catching up during her first year, tipping the scales at 14 pounds, ,eight ounces at the end of February.

Remarkable

Jennifer said she is a remarkable child who touches everyone around her.

She said her little miracle baby is a happy child whom she and Steven find very attentive.

"My family has been very supportive through all of this and we're all so grateful that Baby-Rory is here with us," she said.

"Steven has been my rock through this whole ordeal, and he was the first one to hold Baby-Rory when she was born.

"It was a difficult time of our lives, but we made it through and now we have our beautiful baby girl with us.

"She'll celebrate a birthday on March 30 that nobody thought she'd have."