WHEN she was born 15 weeks early she was lighter than a bag of sugar and measured less than ten inches.
But while doctors said the chances of her surviving, let alone prospering, were slim, Rachel Allan, from Dalkeith, has just celebrated her 18th birthday.
She spent the first months of her life in hospital as medics assessed what kind of life, if a
ny, she would have. Her parents, Martin and Joan, were told it was likely she would be paralysed and unable to feed herself, but she made significant progress.
She was eventually released from hospital on the day her mother had been expected to give birth, and the only complications she suffers as a result of her early birth are asthma and the need to wear glasses.
She celebrated the milestone birthday with family and friends at a function in Gorebridge, and a surprise guest was the consultant who helped save her life at the Simpson's Memorial Maternity Pavilion in 1990. Dr Iain Laing appeared at the Coronation Inn after Mr Allan, 45, a painter and decorator, secretly arranged it.
Rachel, an assistant at Carberry Care Home, said: "I just quickly turned round when I saw him and burst out crying, it was really emotional and I couldn't believe it.
"A lot of my friends talk about what I have been through and feel really sorry for me, but I just feel really special, and hopefully that it shows everyone 'look at me now' what can happen (even if you are born prematurely]."
The Mayfield girl was born weighing only one pound nine ounces, and Mrs Allan had to wait three weeks before she was able to get her first cuddle.
When she was released from hospital four months after her birth the Evening News carried the news as one of the day's main stories. Mrs Allan, 42, a dinner lady at her daughter's former school, Lawfield Primary, said she had kept in touch with the staff at Simpson's ever since.
She said: "We called Iain some time ago and he remembered us straight away.
"I remember after I had her she was taken straight away to an incubator and I didn't even know if it was a boy or girl.
"I know it's a cliche, but it was like a roller-coaster. Some days you'd noticed she had grown a bit and everything would be great, then something would happen the next day to get you down again. But she's only got asthma, which is really nothing compared to what we thought might happen."
The full article contains 434 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
