To see you now, lay in your pram, all content and settled, guzzling down your milk every 4 hours, cuddling into us when we hold you. You would not believe what you have been through all ready in your tiny life.
No one will believe how poorly you were and how close we came to losing you.
Poor little Sam.
You were born with no heartbeat.
A still-born.
A flat baby.
Not breathing.
No heartbeat.
Dead.
It took 9 minutes for the wonderful doctors and team at St Mary’s to get your tiny heart beating.
We’ve since found out that if you’d have been born at our local hospital, they’d have stopped trying at 7 minutes, not having the facility to save you.
We would have lost you.
It took them a further 10 minutes to get oxygen pumping round your tiny body.
9 minutes with no heartbeat.
20 minutes with no oxygen.
Pumped with adrenaline and all sorts to give you life.
They didn’t give up.
A diabolical start.
You were placed on a cooler.
A fantastic life saving piece of technology.
It stops your brain swelling and your organs dying off.
You were breathing by yourself the same day you were born.
Your ventilator removed.
A Good sign.
You had to stay cooled for 72 hours.
It was awful to watch, to see the distress you were going through.
Your tiny hands filled with cannulas, shaking you were so cold.
Your veins were difficult to find, they had to use both hands.
You were given morphine to keep you sedated. To try to keep you pain free.
Hooked up to what seemed like a thousand beeping monitors, with probes monitoring your brain activity.
We were completely helpless.
The doctors were surprised.
They kept telling us that although you weren’t acting like a baby who’d been through what you had.
You were a baby, who’d had a terrible start.
We couldn’t hold you.
We couldn’t give you a cuddle.
We just had to watch.
Helpless.
That was the worst part.
After 48 hours, they thought you’d had a seizure.
Luckily you hadn’t.
The deep purple colour on your feet had spread up your tiny legs on crept onto your torso.
Signs that oxygen and blood wasn’t draining away from your legs.
You had a heart scan.
You had a scan on your legs.
Luckily there wasn’t a blockage.
Your heart was working hard but expected from what your little body was going through.
72 hours later, they started to warm you up.
We asked for thoughts and prayers.
Our friends answered, sending well wishes and love to you.
It could have took days, we were warned there could be complications.
You may have seizures, your organs could fail.
We prepared for the worse.
It took just 6 hours to warm you up.
There were no complications.
You were still hooked up to the monitors.
We got to hold you
We got our 1st cuddles
78 hours after you were born.
I got to hold you 1st.
They were the most precious cuddles I’ve ever had.
You have gone from strength to strength.
We were able to put clothes on you.
You were finally being fed.
You were moved from intensive care, to high dependency into the nursery within days.
Your sister got cuddles.
She’s a cuddle hogger!
When you were 6 days old, you were strong enough to be transferred back to the special baby care unit at out local hospital.
You were there for just 24 hours.
Then you came home.
Within 7 days.
You have amazed everybody.
You’ll have regular check ups until you’re 2 to check that you don’t have long lasting neurological damage, which can’t be ruled out.
You’re home with us.
We can’t believe it
Our babies are home together.
To see you, no one would believe the start you had to life.
You, we, must have a guardian angel.
We’re so lucky, so blessed to still have you in our lives.
Things could have been so different.
Our miracle baby.
Sam.
Sam – God has heard
Wow, I can’t believe what you have all been through, I actually had tears in my eyes thinking about it. You certainly have someone watching over you.. I’m so glad Sam is OK, what an amazing story. Hope you are all well x
Thank you. It’s the only thing I can think of, we were both really lucky. So happy to have him home with us x
Oh my goodness. I can’t believe what you went through. I am so happy for you that he is OK. That first cuddle must have been so precious. X
Thank you! It’s the best cuddle I’ve ever had! I can’t stop giving them to him now! I think he’ll go on to amaze us x
So glad all is OK! What a precious little guy. Enjoy every minute x
Thank you! Just so lucky x
Wow, what an amazing story despite the tears in my eyes. I can’t believe what you’ve all been through but so pleased to hear that Sam is going from strength to strength Zx
Thank you! I think he will continue to amaze us all x
That must have been horrific! Both my boys spent a week in scbu, though they didn’t have a start like that! You should be very proud of yourself for staying strong, and Sam, what a little fighter! Amazing! #pocolo
Thank you, very scary but could only think positively even in the darkest moments. So lucky he’s ok and home with us x
Gosh, I have tears in my eyes. I am so glad that your baby is ok. Life is so precious and I’m so glad you were in a hospital willing to fight for him. x #pocolo
We are very lucky, I just count my blessings that he’s still here with us x
What an amazing story. Sam is obviously a miracle and a fighter which I can only imagine comes from you all having to go through that with him. xx #pocolo
Thank you, he most certainly is a fighter x
Precious little one amazing xx
Thank you. Count my lucky stars x
I am sitting here in tears. I haven’t had the chance to read everyones posts this week but I needed to read this one. What a time you had. A miracle as you rightly say. Thank you for sharing your story with PoCoLo xx
Thank you for reading. We’re all doing well now, we are one of the lucky ones who have happy endings. There is really no other word to describe him xx
I am so glad that your story has a happy ending, I didn’t know they could cool you down to protect your organs, Sam is amazing-a little fighter, thank you for sharing your story #PoCoLo
Thank you for reading! I didn’t know anything about cooling to be honest! It’s all about stopping the toxins caused by lack of oxygen leaking into the body, although I don’t know the full scientific details. He is a little fighter and I know he’ll continue to surprise us xx
What a terrible time for you all, I struggled to read through my tears x