Premature baby boy who beat the odds set for Christmas dinner at home
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An odds-defying baby boy who weighed only 1lb 10oz at birth is set for his first taste of Christmas dinner after having a feeding tube removed just ahead of the festive season. Doctors feared Iarla Ace would not survive long when he was born prematurely at 25 weeks in the Royal Maternity Hospital in Belfast last October.
But he has since confounded expectations to overcome multiple serious health issues, including a brain haemorrhage shortly after birth. Iarla has undergone five operations and spent a total of 127 days in hospital before finally being discharged to the family home in Castlecaulfield near Dungannon, Co Tyrone, in February this year.
His mother Lindsay, father Matthew and four-year-old big sister Aine are now looking forward to spending their first Christmas in the house with the resilient 14-month-old. Iarla reached another significant milestone in his development just a few weeks ago when a feeding tube was removed from his nose and he was able to eat normally for the first time.
Ms Ace, who is a nurse in Craigavon Area Hospital, said her son’s birth on October 22 last year was very traumatic. “He was very, very poorly whenever he was born,” said the 39-year-old. “He wasn’t responding, and he had to be put on a ventilator.
“He was very tiny and at the start he had a lot of difficulties with his breathing and his blood pressure and other things. And it was really one thing after another to be honest with you. At the very, very start it was very precarious – we really didn’t think he was going to survive the first couple of days.
