A premature baby born weighing less than two pounds has made it home after an amazing fight for survival. Isaiah Gordon's heart stopped beating for a terrifying 17 minutes when he was born.
His mum Bethany Homar was told there was a high chance her little boy wouldn’t make it when she was rushed for an emergency C-section at 26 weeks and three days. She had suffered a placental abruption - where the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus before birth.
Doctors at Sheffield Children’s Hospital in South Yorkshire gave Bethany two options; stop the bleeding and let her baby pass away inside her or risk a C-section which didn’t have good odds for his survival. His mum said: “I was given two choices.
"Let him die inside me while they stopped my bleeding or have him there and then with a high chance that he wouldn’t make it. I broke down crying when they told me my choices.
"I knew I couldn't just let him pass away without trying. I had to give him a chance."
So Bethany was whisked down for an emergency C-section and put under for the birth. “I didn’t know what had happened when I came round," she said.
"Then they told me he was very sick, and they were not sure if he would survive. He wasn’t born breathing and doctors told me they resuscitated him for 17 minutes and if it had been a few more minutes they would have had to stop.
"He pulled through at the last second. He was very sick and needed lots of transfusions, but he battled on."
The tiny baby had low blood pressure and underwent multiple blood transfusions to keep him alive. But thankfully brain scans showed just two little bleeds and no sign of brain damage.
He was born with a hole in his heart and an open valve - which doctors will continue to monitor as he gets older. And 112 days after his traumatic April 7 birth, he was able to come home on oxygen in August. Mum of four Bethany, 28, and her partner, Reuben Gordon, 28, were delighted to bring him home.
"I can’t believe he is now home and OK. He’s a miracle," said his mum.
She continued: “He has chronic lung disease so he’s on oxygen still at home. But it’s very surreal that he’s home.
"For a while it didn’t seem like there was an end in sight. Now he’s 7lbs 13oz and smiling and cooing at us.
“It’s uncertain how affected he will be until he’s older. But I’m just so glad he’s home.”
Bethany had a smooth pregnancy until she started getting cramps at 26 weeks and noticed blood in her bath. "My cramps were just like period pains, so I didn't think much of it," she said.
"I just thought I'd have a bath to help with the aches but then I noticed blood and started to panic. I don't think it completely set in how serious everything was until I rang the hospital."
Reuben said: "It all happened so quickly after Bethany was taken into hospital. I couldn't go in with her for the c-section, but I got to see Isaiah just after he was born.
"He was so tiny, but he did a little yawn that gave me a feeling that he would be OK. But it was really scary, and he was so poorly for a long time. We're just glad he's now home."
