My Story

Our daughter, Chloe, was born 13/02/19. I had a very easy pregnancy with no issues or concerns. I was exactly 41 weeks, 1 week overdue, and when I woke on that day I realised little one hadn’t kicked or moved and was very quiet. Tried the usual, drink cold water, have a bath etc to wake her up but nothing. In the end I had some ice cream (if nothing was going to get her moving then this would!). I felt the smallest a kicks. I would of easily of missed it if I wasn’t looking out for it and knew something wasn’t right, at 41 weeks even the smallest of movements are very obvious.

I decided to take myself down to the maternity ward (not thinking anything of it, just me being OTT. Little one had been very active the day before!) When I arrived they put me on a monitor and was clear straight away something was very wrong. Every 5-10 mins little one’s heartbeat kept dropping dangerous low. The midwives decided I needed to be blue lighted to a bigger hospital, James Cook, and after a few minutes of arriving, I was taken straight into theatre for an emergency C section.

When she was born she needed help breathing and received 15 minutes of resuscitation and was taken straight to neonatal. I had only seen her for a few seconds, didn’t even have chance to hold her. It turned out there was a "True Knot" in her cord which had reduced her oxygen supply. She was diagnosed as having HIE (brain injury resulting from lack of oxygen to the brain) and she started to receive cooling therapy straight away, all while being away from me and on the neonatal unit while I was put on another ward to recover from surgery. About 7 hours after surgery, I had regained most control in my legs to get myself out of bed and into a wheel chair to go and finally see my daughter. It was heart breaking not being able to hold her.

After 15 hours, all her results were coming back as normal so doctors
decided to take her off the cooling therapy and start the gradual rewarming, a process which would take around 6 hours. Once this was done I would be able to finally hold and feed her. Unfortunately when they started to rewarm and remove the wires, she suffered a seizure. The decision was made that she would remain on cooling for the full 72 hours (The maximum amount of time given for this treatment). After
coming off cooling she was more or less in our care all while still on the neonatal unit. When she was 8 days old, she was taken for an MRI scan before being discharged. We were sure something would come back from it but to our astonishment - it came back normal! To date we have not had any diagnosis of any illnesses as a result of her start in life which I thank god daily for. She will be monitored through
the neonatal team until she turns 2 and depending on her development will be discharged or will continue to be seen until 6/8 years old.

Even though all her results, including her MRI came back as normal, this is unfortunately not the end but only the begin. It won't be clear until she is older and achieving milestones that we will know the extent of any damage caused and what disabilities she may have. We pray she has come through this unmarked but only time will tell.

Since coming home she has been doing incredibly well, reaching mile stones and doing what all babies do. It's very hard not to worry or stress not knowing what will happen but we take it day by day.

During our time on neonatal we received support and care not only from the nurses and doctors of James Cook but from Leo's. We received a welcome gift which was like receiving a hug in a box. It was filled with lots of lovely supporting messages, gifts, samples and to let you know they were there. They also provided a diary for your little one so while on the neonatal unit the nurses could write updates to your them saying what had been happening that day, including photos. A lovely way to share with your little one when older. This really helped us come to terms with what had happened and not to think of the future but the here and now. it was nice to know they were there throughout everything and even when we were home we could see receive they're support  

I recently began to suffer with PTSD as a result of her traumatic birth and what the future unknowingly holds for her. Again, Leo's are right there supporting and offering counselling to help me through my struggles.

We are still at the start of a long journey but one, I hope, will have a
happy ending.

This is why I am running the GNR 2020 and raising money for Leo's as a way of thank you for giving so much to families going through the worst times.