"Baby Zarah" by Ishmam K

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia is the failure of the diaphragm to close in a newborn. My baby cousin, Zarah, was born with this condition. The diaphragm separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity and a muscles that assists breathing. Weakness can be seen as a bad link in what can be a very strong chain. Growing up I had very healthy cousins who made me feel like our family in no way had a weakness due to extreme illness. Being the last one to get married, my Chachu (uncle) and Chachi (aunty) had the last cousin that would be born in our branch of the Khan lineage, Zarah.

            At the day of her birth, our family was not allowed to visit the hospital and I had no idea on why. It had been about two weeks until I finally learned that the baby we have all been desperately waiting for had hole in diaphragm that allowed her intestines to start sliding up to her lungs. At that point I felt like our family can be really weak but baby Zarah proved me very wrong. She had a major surgery and her condition was very life threatening. Thanks to modern medicine, our little baby Zarah made it through very major bump in her life.

It had been 4 months after birth that Zarah would be allowed to leave the hospital. When she did, our families from all over the state came to visit her. After leaving the hospital, Zarah’s only way to be fed was through a tube that would inject milk into her stomach. This condition also directly affected her breathing so she also had breathing tubes for the first year of her life. When my family looked at her, they saw little weak baby with a lot of problems and as did I. I had no idea that I was looking at the chain that would keep our family together.

Zarah had learning disabilities along with this condition. One of the issues that came with this disability was that Zarah couldn’t understand how someone is able to chew food and further from that is how they swallow that food. She never experienced breastfeeding like many infants should for their own self confidence studies show. However, this didn’t stop her from trying. This little blessing that came into our life would take food into her mouth and sit the for like an hour and not spit it out. The first time I saw her trying this was on a thanksgiving dinner where everyone sat around and ate. I noticed her put food into her mouth and I got extremely scared because I felt like she would choke. When I asked her to spit it out she just sat there with the food in her mouth. Zarah had turned about 4 so she was at the stage that everything was hers. She acted like as if I were taking her Minnie doll which she was extremely territorial over. Then I figured that the Zarah felt left out. She had turned five when she finally began to eat a bit normally but the tube was still her primary source for nutrients.

            One more day came where it felt just as scary to the family as the moment she was born. Zarah’s diaphragm opened once again and her intestines began to slide up to her lungs. This meant another major surgery at very young age which I have never seen anyone go through. At this point that point I realized just how strong this baby was. After the surgery, there were very few times where Zarah would complain about her pain which was there. My sister and I babysit Zarah on daily basis and her improvement as child seems amazing though having disabilities. Her ability to read is particularly impressive at her age and makes me actually want to start reading. Anytime she has to read, she would bother me for hours to read with her. Her work ethic would make many people of older age feel bad about their own work ethic.

            I can’t be more thankful that I get to see her every day after a long day of school. Zarah taught me what perseverance truly meant. I have a very hard time sticking to what I felt was important in any subject so I had to learn to put it in my mouth and sit, no pun intended. She had been through very tough situations and made it through them bravely and victoriously. I saw this baby as a weakness for a little but her progression showed me that she is stronger than anyone in my family. She has become the symbol of our strength in our family for those who know us.