A St. George's couple heaped praise on the staff at the Hospital for saving the life of their newly born baby by diagnosing she had a hernia just hours after she was born.

As Mr. and Mrs. Jurgen Dale's baby Michelle lay in the KEHM nursery on March 22, 1992, nurse Paula Kelly noted she did not seem to be breathing properly and summoned resident paediatrician Dr. Bente Lund.

An X-ray revealed the infant had a diaphragmatic hernia. As a result her intestine was being pushed up into her chest and not allowing her left lung to grow properly.

The baby's physician Dr. June Hill swiftly made arrangements for Michelle to be flown to the Toronto Hospital For Sick Children where she would undergo a life saving operation to get rid of the hernia.

Twelve hours after being born, Michelle was on her way to Canada via air ambulance.

Had Michelle been fed breast milk or anything before the hernia was diagnosed she would have developed serious internal complications and the operation would have been a lot more riskier, her mother Mrs. Brenda Dale said.

"I'm just thankful the nurse discovered she was not breathing properly when she did,'' Mrs. Dale said at the time. "I was so pleased with the staff at King Edward -- they saved my baby's life.'' Michelle was well enough to fly back to Bermuda a few weeks later and doctors at the Toronto hospital were "amazed'' at her speedy recovery, Mrs. Dale said.

Mrs. Dale, who is a sports advisor for the Youth and Sport Ministry said her first reaction at hearing the news of her daughter's hernia was: "Was it something I did during my pregnancy?''.

But she said doctors at the Toronto hospital told her there was no explanation for the disorder and that it was not a common occurrence in newborns.

Mrs. Dale added, "I had had a perfect pregnancy.'' THANKING HOSPITAL STAFF -- Mr. and Mrs. Jurgen Dale of Smith's Island, St.

George's, seen two years ago with their baby Michelle, who was rushed to a children's hospital in Toronto for a hernia operation hours after she was born following a King Edward VII Memorial Hospital nurse's observation that she not breathing properly.