Dad’s terror after baby gets Covid
Baby ‘went down rapidly with it’
A FATHER has spoken of his terror after his baby boy was rushed into hospital gasping for breath with Covid-19 after catching it from him and his partner.
The nightmare began when Bonnie Saunders, a nurse at Glangwili Hospital, started to have coronavirus symptoms, followed by her fiancé Alan James, before baby Jack then developed symptoms.
He said: “It was really shocking to see how it took hold of Jack and just how rapidly he went down with it. It just happened really quickly – the coughing, the temperature, and then the wheezing and the struggling to breathe.
“It was hell.”
A FATHER has spoken of his terror after his baby boy was rushed into hospital gasping for breath with Covid-19 after catching it from him and his partner, both of whom had tested positive days previously.
The nightmare began between Christmas and new year when Bonnie Saunders, a nurse at Glangwili Hospital, started to have coronavirus symptoms.
She had only recently returned to work following maternity leave after the birth of her son Jack last year. Aware of the significance of her symptoms, she arranged to have a Covid-19 test at the local testing station in the Nantyci area outside Carmarthen, which duly returned positive.
A few days later, her fiancé Alan James started to get similar symptoms, and he too then tested positive.
“I thought we were quite lucky at the time because when Bonnie was ill, I was able to look after Jack, who is only seven months old, and then when I became ill, she was on the mend so she was able to be with him,” said Mr James, a lecturer at Coleg Sir Gâr in Carmarthenshire.
“We both had the same symptoms – cough, temperature, flulike symptoms – but the kids were all OK. They didn’t show any symp
toms so we thought it would all pass without a problem.
“But then, on January 2, Jack fell ill.”
While there is no doubt that coronavirus affects elderly people and those with underlying health conditions more gravely, it is this fact that lulled Mr James, who lives on the outskirts of Carmarthen, into thinking everything would be fine and that baby Jack would not contract the virus, or at least if he did, he would be able to bounce back from it quickly, like children often do with a range of illnesses.
“It was obvious before he was tested that it was the virus,” said Mr James.
“His temperature was
raging and he had a cough, and obviously he had been around the both of us who had tested positive.
“We arranged for him to be tested and it came back positive.
“The usual painkiller medicines were doing the trick in terms of keeping his temperature OK and his behaviour and general mood was quite normal so we kept him at home. But then on Monday night he started to wheeze heavily and he was really struggling to breathe. He was gasping for air.
“We rang the ambulance and they came out and took him to hospital. We don’t live that far from the hospital but because all three of us had Covid, and because of the seriousness of Jack’s situation, we phoned 999.”
Jack was put in the ambulance and his mother Bonnie was allowed to go with him to hospital, where he was treated with steroids and given oxygen to help him breathe. He was kept in all day and allowed home when his condition improved on Tuesday night.
Mr James said his son was now “on the mend” but his recovery might take some time, along with his own.
“Bonnie, as part of her job, was given the first dose of the Covid19 vaccine a few weeks ago, and she is due to have the second dose in due course.
“So, obviously, she caught coronavirus after being vaccinated, but her symptoms were far milder than mine and Jack’s.
“He’s on the mend but it’s quite slow. It’s not like he has a cold as such, and he’s not sniffling, he’s just very lethargic and not himself, and he has a throaty cough. As for me, it’s been a week since I became ill and I’m still rough now. “
Mr James admitted that he didn’t worry about Jack being in danger of serious harm from Covid-19 because the narrative surrounding the virus did suggest that children were not at a severe risk.
This is true to a point, and the vast majority of serious complications and deaths do not occur in young people.
“I thought he would be OK because you don’t often hear of young children having it, or becoming ill with it, so the message always seems to be that young people don’t really get affected by coronavirus,” he said.
“Because of what I had read I was more concerned about Bonnie or myself getting it, so it was really shocking to see how it took hold of Jack and just how rapidly he went down with it. It just happened really quickly – the coughing, the temperature, and then the wheezing and the struggling to breathe.
“I think it’s important to raise awareness that babies do get coronavirus and can become seriously ill with it.”
He said the shock and terror of waiting for the paramedics to arrive as his baby gasped for breath continued to linger.
“It was hell,” said Mr James. “It was certainly the scariest thing I’ve experienced.”
On Monday night he started to wheeze heavily and he was really struggling to breathe. He was gasping for air Dad Alan James