Parent Story – by Kerry Coles

I had been for my last check with the diabetes team at the hospital the day before going in for induction and I was extremely nervous, anxious, more worried than I had been previously and my blood pressure had risen which was high for me but not clinically high and we shrugged it off as being so anxious.

The day came for induction and it was busy this time round I had the foley catheter as I had so many children and inductions previously that was the best and safest option which worked really well and quite quickly actually, I was quite surprised. My cervix was open enough for them to break my waters but I couldn’t go down that day as there were quite a few emergencies happening so it wasn’t safe to start me off just yet.

The next morning, I was woken at 5 am for breakfast and to go down to get my waters broken eek it was so nerve racking and exciting I was finally going down to have my baby and couldn’t wait to feel her on my chest and feel her warmth and finally see my little girl.

When they went to break my waters, her head was too high and they tried with a midwife pushing her down but it didn’t go down far enough so the doctor said he would like to break them in theatre and have me prepped for an emergency caesarean as he said the cord could come out first which is called a cord prolapse and they would have to get baby out quickly if that was the case although I was nervous I was happy that he wanted it done in a more secure location for baby as that’s all you worry about is the baby and them coming out safely and hopefully as less pain and as quick as possible.

I was prepped for a c-section and went into the operating theatre with my mother-in-law as my boyfriend wasn’t feeling to great due to the stress and worry so we decided she would come in with me as she is just like a mum to me. I was laid on the bed and my waters were broken  and then absolute mass panic, the midwife was shouting babies blood, the doctor holding onto my babies head from inside whilst there was lots of gushing and the anaesthetist and his assistant were telling me goodnight mum (code word for you need to be put to sleep for an emergency c-section which was discussed before we went in) as the room filled with people and my mother in law ushered out all I could do was sob with a mask over my face, having my tummy prepped for surgery and thinking please hurry and get my Evie out. She was born at 2:45pm and she had to be resuscitated and had been without oxygen for 11 mins and lost a lot of blood, her APGAR score was 3 and diagnosed HIE Grade II.

The next I knew I was in recovery very groggy in and out of it and was monitored for hours. I was finally taken to a room on delivery suite and told my baby was very poorly she had suffered HIE due to Vasa Praevia and that dad was with her and would take a picture for me and they explained she was being transferred to another hospital for cooling treatment as my hospital didn’t have it and that I couldn’t go as it turned out I had pre-eclampsia and had to stay on a magnesium drip for 12 hours my blood pressure went up to 200/110 and had lost a lot of blood and poorly myself.

It all happened so fast I couldn’t believe what had happened my worst fear had just happened and I felt useless, helpless and that it was all my fault. The midwife gave me a leaflet that Bliss had done to explain HIE and the causes and what happens treatment wise like cooling etc and I found this really helped me cope and understand what had happened. I hadn’t seen my baby girl at all which felt horrible and strange as I love the bit when the baby comes out onto your chest and you feel the warmth and the love rush over you and I had my baby whilst asleep and hadn’t even seen her it was horrible. My boyfriend sent me a picture on my phone and she was beautiful but she had a ventilator and drips in and it was heart-breaking to see her that way.   I eventually got to see her just before she was transported to the other hospital the staff had brought her to me for 5 mins so I could finally see her and my goodness it was so hard to see her in her transportation incubator but felt confident and happy that she was in safe hands and the staff were lovely and amazing.

I eventually got transported to the same hospital as her the next day and the midwives were fab made me and my family feel comfortable and very supportive. I had to go up and down to the NICU to see her in a wheelchair at first due to the section my boyfriend took me up and I couldn’t believe how big she looked in the incubator compared to the tiny prem babies around her and the staff were brilliant that looked after her nothing was to much trouble for them and they encouraged us to help with her daily routine of cleaning and turning her and they felt bad to have to ask us if we could buy her nappies as they had such a low stock of new born stuff as they have more prem babies usually and people donate and knit for the prem babies and not so much for the new-born’s, we were more than happy to buy her nappies and we also bought a few packs to donate into the hospital too. When our other children visited the staff were brilliant with the younger ones 3 & nearly 2 at the time they gave them some name bands and mask the same as Evie so they could put on their dolls at home so they weren’t so scared/worried about seeing Evie the way she was, my 3 year old sat and sung Evie nursery rhymes and then said when you come home Evie I can sing them to you there too and even the nurses got emotional as at that time it was uncertain as to if she would wake up or not and it was very emotional.

The doctors prepared us for the worst as it wasn’t looking very likely that Evie would wake up as all her organs had taken a hit from the lack of oxygen and she was having seizures and brain waves where all over the place but they looked after her, medicated her, cooled and warmed her and 1 by 1 her organs started working first her heart then her kidneys then she started trying to breath more herself because she had become more stable we were able to have our first hold it was amazing holding her in my arms after waiting for 2 weeks. About 2/3 days after holding her she finally opened her eyes and I have never felt so much happiness and joy ever it was amazing my little girl had woken up and was moving, she had to go for a MRI scan which amazingly came back clear and as soon as she started having feeds she was transferred back to our local hospital until she could bottle feed and gain weight ok which took a further 2 weeks as she had tongue tie which had to be cut then she was able to feed which was amazing and again the staff where brilliant looked after her very well and supported us too.

Evie is now about to turn 1 she has some mobility delay but she is happy and healthy all thanks to the swift action of the medial team the day they broke my waters and the aftercare she has received in the NICU and Neonatal for which we shall be eternally grateful.