Lois was born in October 2014, full-term, but suffering with a severe form of a condition called Meconium Aspiration Syndrome, which means that she had breathed meconium into her lungs.
For several days it was touch and go whether she would survive and if she did, what damage had been done due to lack of oxygen at birth. Lois was in intensive care in the NNU for more than a week, while the amazing doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to try to clear her lungs, finally, just as we were about to be transferred to Yorkhill children’s hospital in Glasgow for potentially life-saving ECMO (lung-bypass) treatment, she started to respond.
From that point, her recovery to a non-life threatening level was fairly rapid, however it was still 5 more weeks in the special care nursery before her lungs were functioning well enough for her to be allowed to go home.
Lois has been incredibly lucky not to suffer any long-term side effects of her traumatic birth and our family owe everything to the skill of the staff at Simpson’s neonatal unit.