Fighting premature birth - Story Gallery

Me and Ruby's dad were on a little holiday in Wales, at this point I was 27 weeks + 2 days. I'd been in the sea, lying in the sand and just had a brilliant time. I'd noticed my back was niggling, but didn't think anything of it. But as the day went on it got worse. We got back to the caravan and I decided to lie down, but I started experiencing pain in my tummy, after being stubborn and thinking I'd just over exerted myself, we decided we should get some advice on what to do. We were told to go to hospital and get myself checked over, so off we went all the while the pain is increasing.

Anyway long story short, we got to the hospital just after 6pm and were seen and told that I was in labour and to far gone to stop it. I had Ruby at 7.48pm, she was born into a Tesco freezer bag to help keep her warm. She was 2lb 4oz born. I didn't get to see her as they were working on her and whisked her off to the NICU. We saw her briefly before we all settled for the night. The next morning we were told Ruby had suffered a bleed on the brain and needed to be transfered to the NICU at BWH. We got to Birmingham and was told Ruby had suffered severe brain damage and we were told that it was very likely that she would have some form of disability, that she might not walk etc.

From July to the August Ruby went between Bridgend hospital (where she was born) and Birmingham womens, Worcester and Hereford (home hospital). She was doing well and we were close to being able to take her home. Then one night she wouldn't settle, we were sent home to rest and come back in the morning, but we were called in the morning and told we had to get to the hospital as Ruby was extremely poorly. When we arrived we couldn't see Ruby for all the doctors around her bed. When we did she her she was so bloated all over and you could see her her veins, we were told she had necrotizing entercolitis and it was a matter of life and death. After hours and hours they had to make the decision to transfer her (even though she wasn't stable) to B'ham. She had a 5 police car escort and we were told that they couldn't guarantee that she would make the journey. We were so numb from hearing this. Off she went and we travelled up shortly after. She was operated on the next day and lost 40% of her small bowels... But she survived.

Ruby then spent the next 6 months in BCH. We had many more touch and go moments, but when we finally got told that she could come home, it was the most amazing feeling but also scary knowing we weren't going to have the security of the amazing hospital staff that took care of her. Ruby is now 11 years and has severe CP, Epilepsy, c.v.i, short bowel, completely gastrostomy fed and severe learning difficulties. We have had so many ups and downs over the years, but she's still here showing us what an absolute warrior she is. We are and always will be incredibly grateful to all those that work within the NHS and all those that helped to keep Ruby here with us. #NHSHEROS

On 7th October 2016 (my son's 5th birthday), I had an AVM (Arturo Venous Malformation) rupture. I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time. The ambulance crew thought I had pre-eclampsia. I was blue lighted to hospital. They performed an MRI and realised it was an AVM, they also said that they couldn’t deal with me. So I was blue lighted to another hospital 1.5 hours away. They operated on my AVM, sitting up so I didn’t squash my baby. In hindsight it was really good because a pregnancy is not considered viable until 24 weeks. I was only 20 weeks pregnant. It was the first in 22 operations that I had on my head/brain. On 9th December I had a cardiac arrest. In ICU they had put a tracheostomy in situ. My tracheostomy fell out or I pulled it out in my unconscious stupor. I was officially dead for 6 minutes, whilst they bump-started my heart.

On 25th December (Christmas Day) the ICU Dr’s decided to deliver my daughter. We both had sepsis. Our temperatures were spiking and the Dr’s decided that they could treat us better separately. So our daughter Phoebe was delivered 9.5 weeks early by Emergency Caesarian Section. She spent 9 weeks in NICU. She finally came home and my mum-in-law moved in, to help my husband with our 5 year old son, and new daughter. I don’t remember meeting my daughter until she was about 3 months old.

I finally came out of hospital on 6th November 2017. In February 2019 my daughter had a huge haemangioma on her face. She had it removed at Great Ormand Street Hospital, they did such a marvellous job. She has a scar. But it is so much better than the massive haemangioma. At Leicester Royal Imfirmary they scanned Phoebe all over her body, because you can get haemangiomas on your internal organs. She didn’t have any more haemangiomas, but they did find that her left kidney operates at 85% and her right kidney operates at only 15%. She now has outpatient appointments at the Nephrology (kidney) Clinic.

She is 4 years old now. She’s due to start school in September. She’s an ordinary 4 year old girl now. Although she did have a difficult start in life. She was very small in the beginning, but now she’s caught up with her peers.

At 25 weeks I went into unexpected labour (I thought I had very bad trapped wind) after going to the hospital in agony. They thought I had a urine infection and after tests came back all clear they decided to do an internal. After a look of a very concerned face, I was told that they needed to get me to a delivery suite. Absolutely terrified, they rushed me down and told me they would do everything they could to try and save the baby, but the chances weren't good. They said they may be able to stall the labour. They gave me an injection and said they would check in an hour as they may be able to stitch me. However after an hour this baby decided now was the time to arrive.

With my partner and now my mum at my bedside and my very worried Dad waiting outside, a team of around 15 doctors, nurses and midwives were there waiting for the baby to arrive. They told me not to worry and that I wouldn't hear the baby when it arrived but they would do everything they could. After a final push, my baby arrived and we heard the tiniest cry ever, but it was a cry!! Weighing 1lb 14.4oz our beautiful baby boy was here. He was whisked away after being ventilated. A few hours later we were allowed to go and see him. He was perfect. He had many hurdles along the way in his NICU stay, he suffered with NEC twice resulting in 39cm of his bowel removed, he got sepsis making him hideously poorly and he had real trouble gaining weight, especially after having a stoma bag. There was so many ups and downs through his stay, but we remained as positive as we could, as this tiny baby just fought all the way.

We spent a total of 128 days in NICU before we were finally allowed to bring him home, though the hospital started to feel like home and we really missed it when we went home. However Ralph is now thriving and recently celebrated his 1st birthday. He is the happiest little soul I've ever met, and he makes me and his Dad proud EVERY day.

On December 19th 2019, I gave a natural birth to my son Zachary George at 10:50 pm. He was born at 24 weeks, weighing 690 grams. Zach was rushed to a neonatal intensive care unit, where he was looked after by so many different nurses, doctors and consultants. Zach is my first child and I was so excited and over the moon about having him. I spent every day looking at him through the incubator glass, feeding him from a syringe into his feeding tube, changing his nappy when I could, making every minute count, taking as many pictures as I could. Zach’s eyes even opened at 26 weeks and I was so fixated on him.

Zach had such a character, he would get into all sorts of positions which always made me laugh. Zach always looked so comfortable and relaxed, every day was a working process and he was tolerating his feeds which were upping every day and his weight was going up too. I was so overwhelmed that he was fighting every minute. I knew it was going to be a while, but I couldn’t wait to take him home. I would read Zach story books every night so he could listen to my voice because the thought of him thinking he was alone broke my heart. I would leave him little knitted squares that had my scent on next to him so he could smell them. Zach was my whole world. I thought about him constantly. At 27 weeks Zach started to get an infection, he then had a collapsed lung, he was struggling to breathe, and fluid was getting trapped so the doctors had to put a drain in his lung to help. Later on he had to have another one in place and they stopped Zach's feeds. Zach's kidneys started to shut down and he wasn’t able to urinate at all. Everything just got worse and worse.

Zach died in my arms at 6:00am on the 17th of January 2020. I still remember his last breath, my world fell apart and my future plans were gone. I’ve never been so heart broken. I think about him from the minute I wake up to the minute I lay down. Zach is now my beautiful angel in the sky, forever & always.

At 24+3, Jorge was delivered by emergency c section due to severe preeclampsia and hellp syndrome.

My boy thrived for the first 3 weeks then first lung infection hit, but he pulled through. 2nd one we knew we had problems as one lung did its job the other hadnt. At 37 days old, my boys heart rate dropped i ran up to him as fast as i could. I held him and smelled him,I told him i loved him that it wasnt his time and that i needed him like he needed me, then his sparkle left, my boy had gone. Its been 16 months, i miss him each day xx