My name is Amber. My mother is very young, only 18. She is a college student who is being supported in her education by relatives. When she became pregnant with me, she tried to hide me. She didn’t eat very well and tied a binder over her tummy so her mother wouldn’t notice that I was growing in her tummy.
I didn’t grow very well. I was supposed to be born about Feb. 23 but on Jan. 10 I knew I needed to be born. She and her mother went from hospital to hospital trying to get in to give birth but no one would take her because the hospitals didn’t have good facilities. I was coming very early and would need an incubator.
My mother was desperate, and finally she went to a private hospital where I was born on Jan. 10, 2007, 7 weeks premature. The doctors weren’t sure I would live. I only weighed 1.25 kilograms when I was born.
I stayed in ICU for the first two weeks of my life. I only gained .05 kilo in two weeks. It was very hard for me to suck on a bottle. I still sometimes get so tired when I nurse.
My mother and grandmother decided to give me up for adoption. The hospital was very expensive and they had to borrow to pay the bill. My mother was really too young to be a mommy and both she and my grandmother wanted her to continue her studies.
They heard about the little children’s home. My grandmother went to them and asked if they would accept me. They knew that to take good care of me would be very expensive, but they took me anyway. They knew I had nowhere else to go.
I came to live at the little children’s home on January 28 when I was only 18 days old. I was very tiny when I arrived. They weighed me at the home when I first arrived. I only weighed 0. 97 kilo. Maybe I hadn’t been doing very well in the hospital.
The people at the little children’s home children’s home decided to make me like a “kangaroo baby”. They have me wear just a diaper and tie me underneath the careworker’s shirt so her skin and my skin are together. That helps me stay nice and warm and feel safe. I have many very kind ladies who take wonderful care of me. Their names are Murissa, Rosemarie, Len-Len, Vicky, and Antoinette. I am always tied right next to one of them underneath her shirt. It is almost like being back inside my mommy’s tummy again. But not quite.
At the home, my caregivers and I stay in a special room called “Isolation” far away from all the other people. They are worried that because I am so tiny and still very weak, that I might get sick easily.
I am still very tiny. After almost a week at the home I weighed 1.36 kilo. Everyone is encouraged because I am gaining weight. And, I can really cry. I let everyone know that I am here. I have to drink special milk called Pre-Nan. It is made especially for babies like me who are born too soon.
I know I have a long ways to go before I can go to be in the nursery with the other babies. In the meantime, I love snuggling up against my caregivers. They sing to me and read to me, and play music. I know I am safe and loved.
In this picture, I am being “kangarooed” by my very special caregiver, Len-Len.
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