Special celebration for Telford poppy day baby
[gallery] Remembrance Sunday will have a special significance for one family in Telford as they celebrate the first birthday of their 'miracle' baby.
Little Rihanna Poppy Louise Keay spent six weeks in intensive care after being born 10 weeks early on November 11 last year– but is now a bright, bubbly toddler looking forward to her big day.
Her parents Louise Skitt and Rob Keay said they had the staff in the neo-natal unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to thank for the fact that they will be celebrating Rihanna's birthday at home in Telford on Remembrance Sunday – the date that inspired her second name Poppy.
Miss Skitt, 27, said: "I thought I was having a normal pregnancy and that everything was going really well, but after six months my waters broke.
"I got to the Royal Shrewsbury and was admitted to ward 19. After lots of blood tests a doctor came round and said I was too poorly to carry the baby any longer and the baby was getting poorly too, so I was told the baby was to be born that day.
"The date was 11/11/11.
"When Rihanna arrived I had seconds with her before she was taken away. It was heartbreaking. We were given a picture of her in an incubator with tubes, needles and machines, when we should have been holding our baby and bonding."
Tiny Rihanna was jaundiced and diabetic and weighed just 3lbs 3oz, and the couple could not even hold her for several weeks.
A few days later, when the couple called to check her progress, they were told Rihanna's condition had deteriorated rapidly and within hours she was critically ill. A lumbar puncture to check her spinal fluid showed she had a bladder infection.
But Rihanna fought back and, on New Year's Eve, was finally allowed home to Old Wharf, Malinslee, to get to know her half-sisters Ellie, Nila, Megan, Amy and Becky.
Miss Skitt added: "She was sent home with medicines which, I'm pleased to say, at one year old she is now off. She's very clever, she's walking with aid, crawling, dancing and mischievous, and a very happy little girl.
"We would just like to thank Dr Sanjeev Desphande and all the doctors and nursing staff in the neo-natal unit in Shrewsbury hospital for her life."
