Your stories of having premature babies
Premature birth is a common and serious health problem that affects families up and down the UK. Over the past year, families have been kind enough to share their stories with us to help raise awareness of premature birth.
On the 9th of Dec 2000 I went to my local maternity unit due to no movement from my baby-a monitor was attached to my tummy & thats when my world fell in.....babys heart beat was erratic beyond words, my blood pressure had rocketed & i had protein in my urine, a doctor was called & an emergency c section was my only choice......i was 10 weeks before my due date-forms were signed & i was whisked away leaving my partner Rob in shock as to what was happening, apparently he sat on the floor in the ward where the bed i was on had been when they wheeled me away, he wasnt allowed in the theatre as it was an emergency! I was knocked out & woke up to pain!
Rob showed me a poloroid of our little boy & he was little beyond comprehension with tubes everywhere & a little wooly hat that despite being little was massive on his head.
He was really ill, too much lactic acid in his blood they kept saying, lungs not working properly-tests followed & bleed on his brain discovered-the lactic acid levels weren`t going down despite transfusions.
I went to see him in the SCBU-one place i never thought id end up in-everyone hopes they will just have the perfect birth & baby i guess.....looking back i dont think i went to see him enough-i should of been there all day for the duration of his short life but wasnt-later that day he was baptised as Josh Beadle...the name we had long before chosen.
On sunday the 10th of december we were told there was nothing more that could be done for him, still the lactic acid levels were high & he was not responding to anything-that was when we were told that the only thing we could do was let him go.....so at 730pm Josh was brought to us wrapped in a blanket and we were left alone for what seemed like an eternity-at 743pm he died right there in my arms with rob my partner holding his tiny tiny hand.
On reflection i know this was best for our baby boy but following a mess up at the hospital a post mortem was never carried out so we will never know the root cause of all his problems...i just had got pre eclampsia they told me.
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