Oliviasstory

This is Olivia’s story, written by her mum, taken from a diary we kept last year.

I was 25 weeks pregnant with my daughter Olivia when I was taken to hospital at 6am on 9th April 2007 with tummy pains. Once I had got into the examination room my blood pressure was taken and tests were carried out. I had several midwifes & doctors examine me, my blood pressure was extremely high. They put drips into my arm and my blood pressure was being taken every 5 minutes. I had severe Pre-eclampsia & within an hour of being admitted to the hospital, we were told baby might have to be delivered soon. The first thing that crossed my mind was the fact that I was only 25 weeks pregnant & the baby wasn’t ready to come yet? 15 weeks premature?

My blood pressure remained extremely high for the next 24 hours. I had an arterial line in my arm; I had fluids going in & a catheter to measure fluids coming out. My kidneys were working overtime to keep me going basically. I blew up like a balloon with all the fluids running through my body and had to have rings cut off my fingers because of the swelling. The next day my blood pressure & symptoms remained the same. The neo natal doctors came to talk to us & told us what would happen when the baby was born. That same day, I was taken to theatre for an emergency caesarian.

Olivia was born at 25 weeks & 3 days gestation, weighing 1 pound & 5 oz’s that’s 610 grams. She was taken to the neo natal unit straight away & I was taken back to my room to recover. We were given a Polaroid photo of Olivia but, we didn’t go to see her until the next day. When we saw her we were terrified, all those machines beeping. She was so much smaller than we expected. The photo made her look bigger. She looked lost in the incubator, and she was so tiny. She was on a ventilator & had numerous canula in her hands & feet & a feed tube up her nose. For the first couple of weeks we didn’t know if Olivia was going to survive or not.

The midwife looking after me (Pat) asked “how are you going to feed Olivia”? I said I was hoping to breast feed but there was no sign of my milk yet so how could I? Pat suggested that I try the massage techniques to see if I could get the milk flowing. Pat helped me do this within the first 24 hours of Olivia being born, and it worked! I was told that premature babies do so much better with mum’s milk, it was the only positive thing that I could do for my baby & I think it helped to keep me positive too. I managed to express for the first 3 months. 15^th April 2007 I came out of hospital & went home. Olivia still in Intensive care unit & would visit twice a day, morning & evenings.

Olivia had to have medication to close the heart duct, luckily the medication worked.

19^th April - dad & I were able to hold our daughter outside the incubator for the first time, amazing!

24^th April – Olivia’s eyes have opened for the first time today! Doctors are talking about taking her off the ventilator & putting her onto C PAP ( a different breathing device).

Olivia came off the vent & went onto C PAP but only managed 1 week & was then exhausted so had to be re-ventilated. A week later & back on C PAP again. She now weighs 680 grams.

2^nd May – Doctors say Olivia has got chronic lung disease, due to being on the ventilator for a long time, need to give her medication to help soften her lungs.

3^rd May – Olivia needs another blood transfusion as her body is not replenishing her blood fast enough. (This will be the 3^rd one she’s had)

5^th May – I tried my first attempt of breastfeed Olivia whilst she’s on the C PAP! And she latched on!!

6^th May – Doctors trying Olivia off the C PAP & just in air, she managed 2 hours before getting too tired. They’re going to keep pushing her to be able to breathe on her own.

16^th May – Olivia has got clothes on for the first time! Feeds now 13mls every 2 hours.

17^th May- Olivia ok today, she keeps making the machines beep & seems full of wind can’t seem to get it out. Had to put the oxygen mask over her face today because she was holding her breath & turning blue. Doctors say she may have an infection.

25^th May – Olivia has moved from intensive care room and into high dependency room.

29^th May – Had Olivia out to try to breastfeed again, she did 5 min's then stopped breathing and started turning blue again, staff nurse rushed over and put the facial oxygen on her! Scared us to death! Doctors came to look at her and are going to give her some medicine to treat possible re- flux?

30^th May – Gave Olivia her first bath!! Breastfed her for 5 min’s then dressed her and took some photos.

31^st May – Olivia now weighs 2 lb 7 oz’s, she’s dipping again with her breathing, saturations dropping etc. Doctor came to assess her and had to give her facial oxygen again, turned blue!

8^th June – Nana had first cuddle. Olivia looking pale today & may need another blood transfusion.

10^th June- Olivia seems a bit quieter than usual today. Tried to breastfeed her but we couldn’t wake her up, then she started turning blue & not breathing again, nurse rushed over grabbed her off me and gave her facial oxygen. Olivia had to go back into intensive care because something’s wrong and they think she’s got another infection, possibly Necrotising enterocolitis, NEC for short,

What is necrotising enterocolitis?

Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a serious illness in which tissues in the intestine (gut) become inflamed and start to die. This can lead to a perforation (hole) developing which allows the contents of the intestine to leak into the abdomen (tummy). This can cause a very dangerous infection.

Now on 3 different antibiotics as her belly is getting bigger and seems to be blowing up. All feeds have been stopped until they know what’s wrong.

11^th June- Doctors tell us Olivia is getting worse & has to have facial oxygen several times a day; she may have to go to Liverpool for an operation. Olivia now has drips in every limb & her body is swollen, no clothes on, just a nappy.

13^th June- Olivia really poorly today & much worse again, she had to be re ventilated. Doctor tells us she is very very poorly with this infection, says she might not get through this & will have to go to Liverpool hospital tonight. Doctors suggest we get our close family up to hospital ASAP & get Olivia christened. Both grandparents came & Adam, we had her christened & we were all crying, thinking we were going to lose her, even the staff here are upset. Left stoke hospital 12am, got to Liverpool women’s health hospital at 1am.

14^th June – we are staying in a room in the hospital, went see Olivia, nurses say they’ve seen babies much worse with this infection. Still on 3 different antibiotics & intravenous drip. Having another blood transfusion today.

15^th June- Olivia had ultrasound on her belly; it was full of air pockets. Planning now to let her belly go down, stay off feeds & see what happens.

17^th June – Olivia’s belly has gone down slightly, they want to finish the course of antibiotics & hopefully re start feeds in a couple of days.

25^th June- Olivia had her eyes checked today; all prem babies have this done to see that the optic nerves are growing properly. 2.30pm – Olivia stopped breathing & turned blue, the nurse had to press the emergency button in the room & several doctors 7 nurses came rushing in to assist in reviving her- scared us to death!

28^th June – Olivia having 7-8 episodes of stopping breathing/turning blue daily. (Bradycardiacs)

29^th June – Olivia now weighs 4 lb 4 oz’s. Feeds are now 12mls every 2 hours.

1^st July- Dave got go back to work as his boss has not been very understanding & is pressurizing him to go back, I am in Liverpool by myself. Olivia having another blood transfusion overnight.

2^nd July- Doctors came round to do ward round, whilst they were in the room Olivia had another bradycardiac, several people reviving her again.

3^rd July – Olivia having eyes checked again. My best friend Sue died of cancer today; I couldn’t get home or leave Olivia.

4^th July – Olivia going back to stoke hospital today. 12pm she had another bradycardia.

Transport team arrived at 1pm to take her home, her belly still looks big to me, doctors say she’s ok and they wont let her go unless she’s well enough. Olivia got back to stoke hospital at 3pm; they had to pull over on the m6 to revive her in the ambulance. 6pm me & Dave went to see Olivia, she’s back in intensive care, doctors can’t understand why Liverpool hospital have let her come back as belly still swollen & she’s obviously still not well.

5^th July – Olivia has had several bradycardias through the night; they’ve had to re ventilate her & are having to reviving her every couple of hours. Doctors say she will have to go back to Liverpool- this time to Alderhey children’s hospital.

6^th July – Got to Alderhey children's hospital at 4.30pm, couldn’t see Olivia till 7.30pm. Doctors & surgeons discussing what to do. 9pm Doctors decide to take Olivia down to theatre & open up her belly to see what’s wrong. They rang us at 12.45am to say she did have a blockage in her intestines, they had to remove 4 cms from her colon & they’ve managed to re connect the intestine- she won’t need a colostomy bag. Doctors said she was stable & the operation went ok. They also had to put a broviac line in her chest.

7^th July – Olivia’s belly has gone down slightly, they’re giving her antibiotics & fluids.

8^th July – Dave had to go back home, to go back to work next day, I am on my own again at Alderhey with Olivia.

9^th July- Olivia ok today & seems settled, starting to wriggle more today, still looks very swollen & full of fluids. Doctors are going to try to reduce the ventilator to wean her off it.

11^th July – Olivia had another blood transfusion today; they’re also doing a head scan to check for any bleeds on the brain- all ok & clear.

13^th July – Olivia off the ventilator today! She’s obviously starting to get really hungry!

14^th July – Olivia moving from intensive care to high dependency today, restarting feeds tonight.

16^th July – Olivia to have eyes checked again today, eye specialist says they need to be treated/lasered at the other hospital in Liverpool (Liverpool women’s health hospital) will have to be transferred there tomorrow.

17^th July – Left Alderhey Children’s hospital at 6pm, got to Liverpool women’s at 7pm.

18^th July – Olivia had to be re ventilated to have her eyes lasered, they took her down at 9.30am, she came back at 12pm, the operation went well but she will have to stay on the ventilator for the next 24 hours. Olivia settled & sedated.

20^th July – Doctors happy with Olivia & are talking about sending us back home to stoke hospital.

22^nd July – 40mls feed every 4 hours now! Olivia looking well, weeing & pooing fine now! Breathing has been fine and no bradycardiacs since the operation!

25^th July – we are going back to stoke hospital today! Got back at 3pm, glad to be back home.

27^th July – Olivia having the broviac line out today. Having 1^st lot of injections today, been too ill to have them before. Doctors talking to us about Olivia ready to come home with us soon! Asking us when we want to sleep over at the hospital with her (as a practice run)

30^th July – Olivia now in room 3! The nursery! We are staying over with her Thursday & Friday!

2^nd August- Stayed over with Olivia in the family room! We had 3 hours sleep that night!

3^rd August – We had no sleep at all last night! Fed Olivia at 12am and she was wide awake after! Me & Dave are like zombies! I was seeing double, I was that tired!

Left hospital at 3pm with Olivia, we are going HOME!!!!!!!! After 17 weeks & 3 different hospitals.

Monday 3^rd September 2007- here writing Olivia’s story, she now weighs 7 lb & 7 oz’s! She’s sleeping all through the day & wide awake at night! We don’t care though because we love her so much & after everything she’s been through………..she’s worth it.

May 2008 – Olivia is now 16lb & is crawling & standing against furniture – with a helping pair of hands!