Oliver's story of survival from growth restriction

Published on: 12/02/2016

In July 2011 I went to my doctors to discuss changing my medications to ones that would be suitable in pregnancy as we had decided to start a family. I had suffered with endometriosis since I was a teenager and knew that this could impact on fertility so our GP agreed that if after a year we weren't successful he would refer us for fertility treatment.  We got married in October 2012 and a few weeks later had our first trip to the fertility clinic.

When we did a pregnancy test in September 2013 and it came back positive we didn't quite believe it!

File 12-02-2016, 15 36 08We'd been trying for nearly 2 years, had 3 failed attempts at IUI treatment and had started IVF treatment. The doctors couldn't find any reason as to why we weren't conceiving and put it down to being unexplained/stress. I had started the first drug of the IVF process but things weren't happening the way they were supposed to. So on in September 2013 I took a test which showed positive. I assumed it must be the drugs causing it so I called the clinic's on call doctor who just said congratulations you beat us to it! Wow we were in shock. We were booked in for a scan at around 6 weeks to confirm the pregnancy. We didn't quite dare let ourselves believe it until then, but there he was, our little bean with his little heart flashing away at us. We were ecstatic, so much so we forgot to ask a due date and had to call the clinic later to ask!

A couple of weeks later I started to bleed, cramp & lose tissue. I saw my GP who said to rest & call her back in the morning so she could arrange an early scan. That night was horrendous I was convinced I was miscarrying and we spent most of the night holding each other while I sobbed. We had a scan a couple of days later & we actually both broke down in tears when the sonographer said that baby was ok. I had another 4 bleeds over the next 6 weeks and was signed off work with 'at risk of miscarriage'. We had other early scans & luckily baby was still ok. We made the decision for me to resign from my job as it was stressful, I couldn't go part-time and all that mattered to us was baby being ok. After our 12 week scan we saw the consultant who started me on aspirin due to family history. We had our 20 week scan at the beginning of January 2014 and found out bean was a little boy, we were so happy to start discovering who our baby was going to be. We finally felt that we were able to start buying baby things and preparing for his arrival. A few weeks later I started suffering with severe SPD which meant that I was pretty much house bound for the rest of the pregnancy.

I had a different midwife for my second sweep and this is the only time that anyone ever mentioned that the baby was small. She asked if my midwife had discussed the baby's size, my response was no, why? She just said oh I don't think he'll be very big – and that was it, an off hand comment, at the time I was relieved as my husband was 6ft 4 and had been a long baby.

The following Monday (2nd June 2014) we went to the hospital to be induced.
File 12-02-2016, 15 33 52I was induced around 12.30 then after initial monitoring we were told we could go for a walk in the grounds & go back around 17.00 for monitoring again. After being left on the monitor a while the nurse checked it & wasn't happy. She got a colleague to look, then they decided to get a doctor up from the labour ward. After a bit if discussion they decided to take us down to labour ward where we could be monitored more closely. I was hooked up then they left us in the room. Every time I had a minor tightening all the numbers on the monitor dropped & my husband kept dashing out of the room every time to tell someone. This happened quite a few times but the nurse said she wasn't sure if it was the monitor losing contact. I felt something was wrong so hubby kept dashing out every time. Eventually the nurse came in & sat with us holding the monitor pads on my belly & watching the monitor. It happened again & she then went to see where the doctors were on their rounds. She said they'd be with us next so my husband quickly popped to the bathroom before they came. Then it all went pretty chaotic & scary. Suddenly there were lots of doctors in the room & if was panic stations. Baby was in severe distress, they wanted to try & break my waters & needed to do an emergency c-section. My poor husband came back in the room to find lots of doctors & me having drips put in …. it must have been a shock to him!

They couldn't break my waters as I was hardly dilated. I was asked to sign the c-section consent form …. like there's any choice!
I just kept thinking to myself this must be serious because they haven't taken the time to put me into a gown instead I was taken into theatre still wearing my own t-shirt. I was scared and so I tried to make jokes – wolf whistling at my husband in his scrubs & asking if we could take them home. When I was laid on the operating table I remember the nurse who was still watching the monitor saying are the team ready because if not we need to bleep another team we need to get this baby out now and she used the term Brachycardia – I didn't try to joke anymore.

At 22.29 on the 2nd June 2014 our little boy was born. When they took him out I heard them say he was small. It was then very quiet in the theatre. All I could see was the screen in front of me and Jon my husband sat next to me staring over at the corner of the room. I kept saying to him 'is he ok, why isn't he crying'. The silence seemed to last forever and a dreadful feeling came over me. Then after what seemed like an eternity I heard the most beautiful sound, my baby boy cried. Jon turned to look at me with tears in his eyes and just said 'he's ok'. I can't find the words to explain the overwhelming feeling of relief that swept over me. Jon went over to meet his son for the first time then came back and told me he was perfect. The nurse brought him over to us both and asked if I wanted to hold him but I asked her to give him to his daddy as my body was in shock from the operation and I couldn't stop shaking. I then had a short cuddle with my gorgeous baby boy.

File 12-02-2016, 15 36 56It definitely wasn't the relaxing water birth we had hoped for but he was here and alive and that's all that mattered.

The nurse told us that there  was meconium in my waters and that the placenta was very small.  She then told us his weight, I knew they said he was small when they took him out so I was expecting 7 or maybe 6 pounds. When she said he was only 4lb 15oz and that we were lucky he was here as he wouldn't have survived labour I was shocked. Then I was angry, very angry. I couldn't understand how my midwife had missed his tiny size or why the 2nd midwife didn't do something when she thought he was going to be small if only they had we might not have come so close to nearly losing him.

We named our son Oliver Jonathan Timothy Gregory – Oliver was the only name we had agreed on (in the theatre Jon did say that I could choose his name after seeing the brutal way I'd been pulled apart to save our son but I decided to choose what we both liked rather than opting for one of my choices), Jonathan after his fantastic dad, and Timothy after my brother who died when I was 7 but who I feel was watching over Oliver.

We stayed in hospital on transitional care for a week. Oliver had trouble feeding, suffered with reflux and struggled to maintain his temperature. I got an infection in my wound which they thought might need another operation but thankfully not. I and the hospital experts desperately tried to get Ollie to breast feed but he was just too small and tired.

I can never thank the nurses, midwives, doctors, anaesthetic staff enough for saving our little man. It was the scariest & the happiest time of our lives.

Ollie is now 20 months, he still suffers with reflux regularly gagging on food and vomiting. He hasn't caught up with growth as the doctors expected and also has some delayed development as he isn't walking yet. He is being investigated for growth conditions and is under a paediatrician and physiotherapist.

File 12-02-2016, 15 38 00We feel so blessed to have such an amazing, happy, cheeky, loving and bright boy, he is the centre of our world. Time and time again he shows us what a little fighter he is and we couldn't be prouder of our little man.

This is why the work MAMA academy are doing is so very very important. Personalised growth charts, an additional later scan and more training for midwives is essential and will save babies lives.

Alex Gregory