Joshua is being Christened and in lieu of cards and gifts we would appreciate donations to the Early Births Fund at St Peters.  The Doctors, Nurses and support we received throughout Joshua's stay and afterwards have been incredible. 

Joshua's story:

He was born with not much warning at 28 weeks weighing 1.29kg (2lbs 13).  The NICU staff came rushing in and worked feverishly to get him breathing.  He was a healthy little fellow and a brave fighter right from the start going onto vapotherm within his 1st 24hrs.  He picked up an infection and deteriorated rapidly on day 5. He was transferred back into Intensive Care and was eventually ventilatored for 4 days.  It took weeks to get over the infection and his health returned slowly.

We eventually took him home 59 days later after being treated by a team of excellent and dedicated Doctors and Nurses who change the outcome of peoples lives by saving their babies.  We were humbled by the wonderful work done by the staff in NICU and will be forever grateful.

Joshua was home for 2 weeks when he contracted bronchiolitis and went back into hospital.  24hrs later he was transferred to Paediatric Intensive Care at St Georges where he spent 12 days, 6 of them on a ventilator.  Yet again a dedicated team of excellent Nurses and Doctors saved his life. He came home again and a couple of weeks later after an overnight saturation study he was put onto oxygen permanently.  The illness had damaged his little lungs too much and he was unable to saturate himself at acceptable levels - he needed help to enable him to grow at a good rate.    

He came off oxygen on 21 May 2010 and we were finally able to hold, hug and move our baby around free of tubes and canisters - 6 months after his birth.  He continues to grow beautifully. 

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Thank you ever so much

Lara and Rory