| asian_XL | 01-14-2009 06:42 AM |
Ice Skater Has Baby 2 Days After Dying
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...ys-after-dying Quote:
A HUSBAND last night spoke of the torment he suffered after his wife died – two days before she gave birth to their daughter.
Ice skating coach Jayne Soliman, 41, collapsed and died from a brain haemorrhage but doctors managed to keep her heart beating long enough to deliver Aya Jayne by caesarean section.
She was Jayne’s first child and her husband Mahmoud has briefly held the baby in his arms.
Last night he said: “In the space of 48 hours I have experienced joy at the birth of my child and endured torment over losing my wonderful wife.
“The two things she always wanted were a loving husband and a child.
“I know she fought with all her might to keep our child alive, but it breaks my heart to know that she will never know Aya Jane.”
The child, born 15 weeks prematurely, is being kept in hospital.
Egyptian-born Mahmoud, 29, a business studies student, added: “I am utterly devastated. We enjoyed Christmas at home and the future looked bright. There wasn’t a hint that Jayne was ill.
“She went to bed with a headache and then collapsed. I called 999 and she was taken to hospital but there was nothing anyone could do.
“I can’t believe my little daughter has survived. I look at her and she reminds me so much of her mother.”
The couple married in Abu Dhabi in May 2007 after a brief courtship while Southampton-born Jayne was teaching ice skating in Dubai.
She converted to Islam and the couple moved to the UK, setting up home in her semi in Bracknell, Berks.
Jayne was only 25 weeks pregnant when she collapsed in her bedroom after going to bed complaining of a headache.
Doctors at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading said the skater had suffered a haemorrhage caused by an aggressive tumour which had struck a blood vessel, but were hopeful her baby could be saved.
Jayne was given big doses of steroids to help the child’s lungs develop and within 48 hours she gave birth to Aya, who weighed 2lb 1Doz.
Jayne’s friend Lucine Phillips, 38, who was present at the birth, said: “Aya was born kicking and wriggling and it’s hard to describe the emotions I was going through when I saw her – it was a mixture of tragedy, elation and relief.
“I was elated with the new life that had just come into the world but in the same instant it was so sad to think that Jayne was never going to see her beautiful baby.
“A midwife picked tiny Aya up and put her little face up to Jayne’s.
“If Jayne had been awake she would have had eye contact with her daughter.
“It was just like welcoming any new baby into the world and everyone in the room, including the midwives and doctors, was so elated. It was a celebratory feeling.
“But we also had to say goodbye to Jayne. Mahmoud said goodbye on his own because he wanted to be the last person to see her.
“He sat with her for a while and then he was told he could go and see his daughter.
“Mahmoud couldn’t hold Aya straight away because she was taken into intensive care. He kept asking if she was OK and whether she had five fingers and toes.
“He was given a photo of her and I could just tell from his face that he was overcome with emotion – it was just welling up inside him.
“He took one look at his daughter and was overjoyed to see her. He said: ‘That’s my Jayney.’ Aya, after all, is a little piece of Jayne.
“Mahmoud was allowed to touch Aya and seeing her tiny fingers close in on his was just indescribable.
“When he was finally allowed to hold her, his face was full of emotion. He knows he has to go on for Aya and that thought will help him get up every morning.”
Mrs Phillips’ husband David, one of Jayne’s fellow coaches at Bracknell Ice Skating Club, said: “To Jayne, becoming a mother was the best thing in the world that could have happened to her.
“She was so happy, she had always wanted to be a mum more than anything else. She lived to have a baby girl – that was the one thing she wanted in her life.
“The hospital laid her baby on her shoulder when she was born so she could have a moment with her. This should have been the best day of her life.”
Jayne, who was kept on a life support machine until her daughter was born, was both British champion and number seven in the world for professional free skating in 1989. She was a former member of the Ice Dance and Figure Skating Club in Southampton.
Mr Phillips said baby Aya , who has been transferred to the intensive care unit at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, in Reading, was doing well.
He said: “She’s absolutely tiny – her eyes are the size of lemon pips and her hands are about as big as my wedding ring, but she’s doing brilliantly.”
He added: “Mahmoud has had the best and the worst day of his life within such a short space of time.
“It’s something you can’t imagine – turning off your wife’s life support machine and then going to see your new born daughter.”
Jayne’s funeral took place last Saturday at the Jamia Masjid mosque in Reading.
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