When we are born, we do not remember our birth. We imagine how it must have been from the stories that our parents tell us. We see how our parents light up, telling us that although it might have started out painful, it turned into something beautiful. The story for LHS freshman Emma Bader, although similar in many ways, is remarkably different.

Emma currently holds the record in South Dakota for having the lightest weight at birth. When Emma was born she weighed a mere 14 ounces and her size was comparative to that of a Coke can. Of course Emma does not remember this, but her mother, Hope Bader, does. The pressures it put on a new family were not always easy to handle.

“One of the most stressful times during Emma’s birth was just right after she was born,” said Hope. “Everything was so on edge on a day-to-day basis at that point. You honestly never really knew from day-to-day what was going to happen; things could go bad at any point really. Everything was really very much up in the air. At that point the NICU had visiting hours where you could only be there from eight in the morning until 10 at night, whereas now you can be there 24/7. You were always afraid to go home; you never wanted the phone to ring because you never knew what they were going to be calling about.”

For the Bader family, Emma’s health complications would not end after the birth issues, but would continue to shadow Emma and her family into the present.

“Emma was born hearing,” said Hope. “We’re pretty sure that when she was about 10 weeks old we thought she was getting pneumonia, so they had to give her gentamicin for the pneumonia and that’s highly ototoxic. We actually had to sign off on it that deafness was a side effect. So we’re pretty sure between the ventilator (that she was on for her lungs), the prematurity and the gentamicin were what caused her to become deaf.”

Although being hearing impaired has its complications, Emma never let it get in the way from living her life to the fullest.

“The school activities that I am in are SALSA and marching band,” said Emma. “Outside of school I do Dance Marathon. They raise money for Children’s Miracle Network. I also do Deaf Teens in Action. It’s a youth group through the deaf school. We get together and do a variety of activities together; we like to go out to eat and play games. It’s like a social group for other teens who are hard of hearing.”

Emma also does not let her hearing impairment keep her from getting the best possible education for herself.

“My education has been pretty normal,” said Emma. “I do plan to go to college. I plan on going to USD, probably for teaching.”

Ever since she was born, Emma has lived a life very far from that of a normal child’s. Her birth was more strenuous than anyone could possibly imagine. But her birth does share similarities with births all around the world as well: that it turned out to have a remarkable, miraculous outcome.

“Pretty much since the day she came into this world she has been determined and independent and knows what she wants,” said Hope. “She isn’t afraid of anything.”