After having our first son, Edward, at 28 weeks and things being relatively plain sailing we thought we could handle having another Preemie. How wrong we were.
At just 24 weeks my waters broke and little George's long journey began. With such a low estimated birth weight, we willed him to hang on in there, and much to our amazement he did...
...Born at 29 weeks weighing a small 3lb 4oz, George was far sicker than we could have imagined. Devastatingly without the fluid George's lungs had hardened and he was born unable to breath, he was resusitated at birth and doctors spent 2 hours struggling to stabalise him. He was also born with bad oedema. George was too sick for our local hospital and was transferred to St. George's, 25 miles from home. He was in such a bad way, I was kindly allowed to travel with him in the ambulance.
Just days later the oedema he was born with had disappered, he weighed a tiny 2lb 8oz. Our hearts soared as we saw him with his eyes open for the first time.
George was being kept alive by a high frequency ventilator (oscillator), doing 600 ''breaths'' per minute. When George was a week old, doctors told us they were sceptical about his survival.
After 3 long weeks, George made it on to a conventional ventilator. We finally had our first cuddle with our precious baby boy.
George now needed surgery to close his PDA. He seemed too small and frail to make it through, but just hours after surgery he woke to tell us everything was ok. The surgery was a success but sadly the doctors didn't see the improvements they had hoped for.
The decision was made to start George on a short course of steroids . We could only hope that these would work.
We watched on in amazement as our little boy blossomed before our very eyes.
Our world came crashing down and our hopes dwindled as without the steroids George just couldn't cope and was put back onto a ventilator. Doctors told us that it was becoming more likely that George would not make it home. They were running out of options. We had never felt pain like it in all our lives, but we were not ready to lose faith. The Doctors and George were not ready to give up.
We stayed by his side praying for him to keep going and much to our belief he started fighting back and when George was 10 weeks old he came off the ventilator for the very last time. He still required some support from a vapotherm.
After all the set backs came the wonderful news that George was taking the huge step from Intensive Care to High Dependency...our brave boy was growing stronger.
At 12 weeks old we gave George his first bath, joy filled our hearts.
At 15 weeks George made another step closer to home when he went from High dependency to Special Care, where he spent some time with continued support from a vapotherm and growing.
At 18 weeks we received the news that George was transfering back to our local hospital. Wonderful news to know he was well enough to return and that we would no longer have to travel each day to see him but we felt terribly sad to leave everybody on the unit behind. A bittersweet day indeed.
After arriving at East Surrey Hospital George suffered a few set backs but it wasn't long before George was on to nasal cannula oxygen, the last step before coming home! On 6th December, almost 5 month to the day since George was born, we received a call asking us to bring the car seat along when we came to visit George, our precious boy was coming home. We had prayed for so long for this day. Our hearts swelled!
As each day passed, George never gave up. Although he was so small he always came out on top when fighting all the infections that came his way. George still requires nasl cannula oxygen and is slowly weaning off. He is a beautiful, happy boy who fills our world with such joy. We can not imagine a life without him.
Of course we know that George wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the dedicated and remarkable staff of St.George's Neonatal unit. George is a testament to the incredible work of the Consultants, Doctors, Nurses and staff at the St.Georges Neonatal Unit and I hope our story and photos illustrate why we have such a huge debt of gratitude to them all, and why first touch does an essential job within the unit. The Neonatal Unit at St George's Hospital cares for over 600 new-born babies each year. Many of the babies they care for have simply been born too early but with the right care, these babies can grow up to be healthy, happy children and our little George is proof of this.
