Article content continued

“When we were down in the States, I spoke to the travel nurse and there was a bed at Royal Columbian. To be honest, I was wondering ‘Why not B.C. Women’s?’ ” said Riley.

Photo by Submitted photo / PNG

The New Westminster hospital is one of four provincial health centres dedicated to caring for B.C.’s smallest and sickest babies. The hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit has one of the best survival rates in Canada, treating dozens of micro-preemies (babies born before 27 weeks) each year. Annually, there are about 120 to 150 micro-preemies born in B.C.

At 8 a.m. on May 6, Zoe was delivered by C-section. She weighed 2 pounds, 8 ounces, Given her weight and information from ultrasounds taken before her birth, she may have stopped growing several weeks before delivery.

“She was tiny and very fragile,” said Riley.

The first two weeks of the little girl’s life were “up and down.” She required surgery for a blood vessel that had not closed, her kidneys shut down and she had trouble feeding. But she began to grow stronger.

“The first two weeks were the hardest from a medical point of view, but eventually the hardest thing was being there for so long. It feels like you’ve had a baby, but you don’t have the baby. It was tough not to have her at home,” said Riley.

After 53 days at RCH, Zoe was finally able to come home to her parents and big brother, Connor, who will be three in a month.

“For Connor it was probably a nice transition,” laughed his dad. “It was like graduated entry into having a sister.”