When toddler Guielle Monique Bassett turns three next month she?ll probably eat some cake, run around with her friends, laugh and open presents.

It all sounds rather ordinary, but to her family her birthday will celebrate a miracle. Guielle was born four months premature weighing less than two pounds.

To commemorate Guielle?s birth, her grandmother, Carol N. Bassett, has written a children?s book called ?When I Was Little? that was self-published in March.

?I remember very well the night my granddaughter was born,? said Mrs. Bassett. ?My son-in-law, Vincent Bean, called me at 3 a.m. and I could tell from the tremble in his voice that something was wrong.

?He had taken my daughter Dana to the hospital earlier and then sent her home and said nothing was wrong.?

It turned out that Mrs. Bean was in premature labour, and while doctors and nurses at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital scrambled to try to stop the situation, it was too late. On Sunday, August 10, 2003, Guielle was born weighing 1 pound 12 ounces.

?Guielle had difficulty breathing, so she was put on breathing machines at the hospital,? said Mrs. Bassett.

?The first time I saw Guielle she was extremely small, almost mousy looking. One would be reluctant to pick her up, and we couldn?t pick her up because she was in isolation.?

She said she was very grateful for the kindness and compassion shown to her family by the nurses and doctors at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. The medical staff taught the Beans how to feed and bathe a premature baby. They also learned ?the Kangaroo Hug?, a method of holding premature babies adopted from South America.

?Parents are taught to place the child close to their breast and give them a tight hug to get the bonding effect,? said Mrs. Bassett. ?That is what my daughter and son-in-law did.?

When Guielle was three weeks old, doctors decided that she would need an operation to repair a valve in her heart. She was air ambulanced to Children?s Hospital Boston.

?It was frightening for the family,? said Mrs. Bassett. ?We had heard about children going abroad for medical attention, so we were just hoping and praying that things would work out for her, and God would help her. Which he did do.

?The operation was quite successful. The only evidence that she had heart surgery is a three inch mark from the cut on her left side.?

Guielle has had no residual effects from her early birth. She has not had to return to Boston, and she is on target developmentally and physically.

?She is normal in every way,? said her grandmother proudly. ?Her vocabulary is expanding and she is quite expressive. There is no real concern.?

Guielle is thriving so well, that Mrs. Bassett was concerned that Guielle wouldn?t know that her early life had been such a struggle.

?My concern was that she not see how good God has been to her,? said Mrs. Bassett. ?I decided to write a story so that she would remember and see how thankful we are to God for bringing her through.?

Mrs. Bassett is an education officer at the Ministry of Education. She has often taught workshops to teachers about teaching children to write. She decided to apply these lessons to herself.

?I just went to my computer and started writing, and the story flowed,? she said. ?Then I put together some family photographs from my daughter and from my album and made her own picture book, to read to her when she was able to understand.?

She took a draft of her story to one of her writing workshops and showed it to the teachers she worked with. One of the teachers, Ellen Kelly, the language arts co-ordinator at Dellwood Middle School, encouraged her to publish it formally.

?I was a bit surprised, but then I took up the challenge,? said Mrs. Bassett. ?Mrs. Kelly assisted me as editor to get the book published. The information technology and business studies teacher at Dellwood Middle School scanned the pictures for me and did the edging and helped to produce the book. I have an ISBN number. All the work was done down here in Bermuda including the publisher.?

Mrs. Bassett has read the story to children at many schools around the Island. Wherever she goes she meets children with similar birth stories.

?It is interesting the spontaneity of their conversations,? she said. These kids can be 9, 10 or 14, it doesn?t matter. There is a link there. Some people want the book so they can share it with their children who were born prematurely so they can have some interaction.?

She said ?When I Was Little? is being used in several classrooms, and is encouraging the children to write their own stories.

?Writing workshop is a philosophy and process I learned about 15 years ago in college,? said Mrs. Bassett.

?I realised this process fits all ages and adults.

?It encourages children up to the age of eight to write about their lives. They also write in different genres such as narrative, feature articles or picture books. Each genre lasts for about a month. Children have to be immersed in the particular literature of the genre so they can see the elements.?

Until now Guielle has been a little young to appreciate that her biography has been written, but she is beginning to catch on.

?At first, she just thought it was a book about a baby because of the cover,? said Mrs. Bassett. ?Now she recognises that it is her on the cover. She is understanding more and more about the book. It is going to be a keepsake in our family.?

?When I Was Little? is available in local bookshops, and also the Craft Market in Dockyard.

?I keep praying that people will buy it and enjoy it and most of all be thankful for what God has done,? said Mrs. Bassett.