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HAPPY ENDING: All the time a pregnant Ms Zhang was trapped under the quake rubble, she prayed that her baby would survive. She was eventually pulled out and yesterday, she gave birth to a baby girl. -- PHOTOS: AP
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URUMQI (CHINA) - IN THE 50 hours she was trapped under rubble after last month's earthquake, mother-to-be Zhang Xiaoyan prayed hard not for her own life, but for her baby's.
Yesterday, she got her wish, giving birth to a healthy, pink-cheeked 3.3kg girl at the Urumqi Maternal Care Hospital in her home region of Xinjiang.
Ms Zhang's dramatic rescue was a rare bright spot after the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province that killed almost 70,000 people and left five million homeless.
'Even if I did not make it, I just wanted my baby to survive. I was holding out hope during the earthquake that this day would come,' the 35-year-old said. She then leaned over to kiss the baby she has named Ai, or love, in honour of the rescue workers and strangers who have showered her with kindness and gifts.
Ms Zhang and her 63-year-old mother had been trapped under 6m of concrete slabs and other debris from the collapsed ruins of a seven-storey apartment building in Dujiangyan.
She said she plans to stay in Xinjiang with her mother until living conditions in Sichuan improve.
Her husband, Mr Pan Yuncheng, a native of Sichuan, remains in Dujiangyan, where he is living in a refugee camp.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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