First kiss for baby born two days after mother died

THIS is the moment a new father first kissed his baby daughter -born two days after her mother was declared brain dead.

Mahmoud Soliman watched doctors switch off wife Jayne's life support machine before he was handed the 2lb 1oz child, named Aya Jayne, Arabic for miracle.

Mrs Soliman, 41, was 25 weeks pregnant when she collapsed in a coma after suffering a brain haemorrhage caused by an aggressive tumour striking a major blood vessel. She was kept alive for 48 hours as doctors pumped steroids into her body to help the baby's lungs develop and then performed a Caesarean section.

Mr Soliman, 29, was handed Aya moments after watching his wife die. "I don't know how to feel," he said. "I've lost the love of my life and been given the most precious gift in the world by her." Mrs Soliman, a former professional ice skater, was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, after collapsing at home in Bracknell, Berkshire, last Wednesday.

Her friend Lucine Phillips was at the birth. "Aya was born kicking and wriggling," she said. "It was so sad to think Jayne was never going to see her beautiful baby. A midwife picked Aya up and put her little face up to Jayne's. We then had to say goodbye to Jayne."

She said Mr Soliman had been with his wife at the end. "He sat with her for a while," she said. "Then he was told he could go and see his daughter. He was allowed to touch Aya, and seeing her tiny fingers close in on his was just indescribable." Mr Soliman said it had been "love at first sight" when he met Mrs Soliman, formerly Jayne Campbell, in Abu Dhabi where she worked as a figure skating teacher. They married in May 2007. "When Aya grows up I will tell her what a lovely, lovely mum she had who would have loved her so much," he said.

Aya was transferred to the Royal Berkshire Hospital on Saturday. She is being closely monitored because of her size and wears a mask to protect her from ultraviolet lights used to treat jaundice which is common in premature babies.