A 3lb baby has beaten all the odds and is finally at home after being born two months prematurely and spending nine weeks in an incubator.
Rebecca Ingram, from Chorlton, admitted herself to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester when she couldn't feel her baby moving as usual. She was hooked up to a monitor which showed baby's heartbeat fluctuating at an alarming rate. Rebecca, 32, who works as a solicitor, was immediately admitted to a ward and after close monitoring, it was decided that she would give birth there and then via an emergency C-section, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Baby Isaac was delivered successfully but had to be rushed to the intensive care unit and placed on a machine to help with his breathing. He had been born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.
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He was then transferred to the neonatal ward where he stayed for nine weeks in an incubator. Isaac was finally allowed to return home with mum Rebecca and dad Nick Lowe, 37, just before his original due date.
The tiny tot, now seven-months-old, needed a blood transfusion due to breathing difficulties but has since been growing well. Rebecca said: “Everything turned around after the blood transfusion.
"We’ll never be able to thank the staff at Wythenshawe Hospital for what they did to Isaac. As much as it’s been a tough few months, we’ve been incredibly lucky with the care Isaac received.
"It was all a bit of a blur – it just seemed to be happening to someone else. It’s very difficult to process at the time.
“I don’t have distinct memories of it happening; it happened very quickly. The memories I do have are off the staff – the doctors and nurses that delivered him. They were incredible and very calm and reassuring.
“It’s really scary and worrying and you hear about babies being born prematurely but you don’t have a concept of what it means and what is going to happen.”
Rebecca and Nick are now raising money for Wythenshawe Hospital newborn intensive care unit and the Spoons neonatal charity, which helped them settle at home and provided counselling to help them process the NICU experience.
If you would like to donate, follow the link by clicking here.
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