On 12th January, my life changed forever. I went to a routine diabetes appointment at Good Hope, 28 minutes later my baby was here, just over 3 weeks early. During montitoring his heart rate was raised (230bpm, usually 130-160bpm for his gestation) so doctors, registrars, nurses, you name it we're stripping me down, prepping me for theatre...the list goes on! Anyway, my baby was born, a baby boy named Leo, his heart stayed the same and GH just didn't have the answers, the decision was then made that he needed to go to Heartlands, right there and then...without me! He spent 5 days at Heartlands, they looked after him fantastic, but there was no improvement on his heart, they'd tried all they could, he'd had his heart stopped and restarted, he was drugged and he was even submerged in a bath of ice to try and shock his heart into 'normal' rhythm. Heartlands decided on day 5 that he needed to go over to BCH for another heart scan. We arrived, in an incubator, doctor, nurse and paramedic all on standby in the waiting area! He had an ECG & Scan and the registrar decided he needed to go and get a second opinion, that's when Dr Paul Miller walked into my life, he told me he needed to keep Leo there, I was devastated. I still didn't understand. Dr Miller told me Leo was in something called Super Ventricular Tachycardia SVT, he had atrial flutter and a little hole in his heart. When was this going to end I thought and as if by magic, Dr Miller got him a bed, mixed a few lotions and potions, gave him a few needles, waved his magic wand and 11 days later, Leo was home, with us, sleeping in his own bed, no heart monitor, no tube feeding, normal! Although Leo is an outpatient at BCH, he is doing extremely well and his condition is not life threatening, nor should it be with him forever (fingers crossed)
I'd really like to raise money for BCH but more importantly for Ward 11, to buy the babies toys and to maintain the kitchen for those parents who, unlike me, never make it home