HOPE OLIVIA HENDERSON – PPROM BABY (PRE-TERM PRELABOUR RUPTURE OF MEMBRANES)

THIS IS HOPES STORY:

We are raising money for this young couple Nichole & Nathan who have recently lost their baby girl Hope. All money raised will help towards any additional costs for Hopes funeral, general living costs and a beautiful head stone for Hopes final resting place.

As you can imagine this is a very difficult time for Nichole and Nathan so hopefully, we can ease some of the pain and stress by helping them out financially.

When they found out they were having a baby the young couple could not be happier and could not wait to meet their new baby.

Unfortunately, at 17 weeks gestation Nichole’s waters broke, they did not know if the baby would survive the next 48 hrs. They were told that there was an 80% chance she would go into labour with only a 1% chance of survival if the pregnancy continued. The next 48 hrs were critical!

Nichole and Nathan were beside themselves with worry but wanted to know if they could find out the sex of the baby, even being so early on the Doctor agreed.

THIS LITTLE BUNDLE GROWING INSIDE WAS A GIRL!!

We were all so happy as Nichole already has a little boy Jamie and this wee baby girl would make their family complete.

Their baby girl had defied all odds and survived the next 48 hrs. Weeks and weeks passed, and she hung on there, we all could not believe it.

Doctors told them that she could still come at any time so to be prepared. Doctors, midwives and consultants all reassured them that they would keep a close eye on mummy and baby at the hospital with weekly visits to the anti-natal clinic for blood tests, checking baby’s measurements, heart beat and anything else that can arise with premature rupture of membranes.

As the weeks passed and with the baby girl growing well the young couple started to talk about names for their new baby girl. They had thought on the name Nia until someone said, “what about Hope”? We had all been living in ‘hope’ throughout this whole time, the name was very fitting. They agreed that would be a lovely name for their baby girl. Her name would be Hope Olivia Henderson, she would have her aunties name as her middle name.

During some hospital visits doctors had spoken about the worry with baby’s Hopes lungs, brain and kidneys. Due to having very little amniotic fluid its is difficult for these organs to develop properly, until she was born, they would not know the full extent of any problems. There was still fluid but never any more than 5cm. Each week was a worry.

Nichole was admitted to hospital many times over the weeks with stomach pains, bleeding and other complications. Each time both mummy and baby were checked over with doctors reassuring them that baby Hope was still growing well, well as could be expected. One of the doctors had also mentioned how amazed he was that baby Hope had turned so was now head down. This wee girl was not only defying all odds and amazing us at the same time.

Mummy and Daddy remained strong and positive.

At 27 weeks Nichole started bleeding very heavily and was rushed to hospital, once again she was admitted for blood tests and scans. Baby Hopes heartbeat was checked again, still very strong and everything on her side looking good. Nichole was given steroids and magnesium sulphate In case she went into labour. Later that day she started experiencing contractions which grew stronger as the day went on but was not dilating. After more than 20 hours of contracting, bleeding but still not dilating it was decided by a senior medical team that baby Hope had to be delivered by Caesarean section. Nichole begged them to leave her as it was way too early for her to be born. As they had no answer to why she was experiencing this pain and bleeding they had no option, they had to think of mummy too.

Nichole was taken into theatre at 06:55am and a very tiny baby Hope was delivered at 07:38am weighing only 2lb 1oz.

When she came into the world, she gave out a little cry and was very feisty. The Paediatricians stabilised her then she was whisked away to the Neo-natal unit to get a ventilator inserted, a feeding tube and 10 different types of medication to help her tiny little body plus 100% oxygen. Mummy and Daddy were told Hope was very unwell due to her extreme prematurity and that she was on 100% of all help available to her. Hopes family just had to sit and hope that their beautiful perfect little baby was strong enough to survive being born so early.

Over the next few hours defying all odds yet again baby Hope did start to respond to treatment with all her obs stabilising. The whole family were so happy that she was such a wee fighter. Through the night she remained stable but still unwell, things were looking good. Mummy and Daddy managed to get some sleep as it was a great relief their baby girl was doing ok.

The next morning whilst mummy caught up on some sleep daddy went down to see Hope in her incubator and reported back to the family that her oxygen levels were going up; her heart rate was coming down and her blood pressure was rising which was absolutely amazing in the first 12/14 hours. They could not believe she was really living up to her name.

Within a matter of an hour Nichole and Nathan were called back up to the Neo-natal unit from the nurse that was attending to baby Hope, she had taken a massive turn for the worst.

How can she be? She was doing so well, she was fighting!

The distraught Mummy and Daddy were told that baby Hope had deteriorated very quickly. They discovered a bleed on her brain, a brain abnormality, she had a missing vertebra and her oxygen levels fell that low her blood was just turning to acid like fluid.

This beautiful baby girl who had already been through so much would not survive the day.

Mummy and Daddy were given the choice to keep her in her incubator and let her slip away or to take her out and spend some precious time giving her cuddles, taking photos and letting her meet all the family before she passed. They decided to take her out and spend as much time with her as possible.

All the family were called to come and meet baby Hope and say Goodbye.

The next few hours were very special as the family spent what was left of her very short life smothering her with love.

Baby Hope passed away very peacefully in Mummy and Daddy’s arms at 7:15pm only 35 hours old.