Not feeding was a clue Ivy was sick

Ivy Scarisbrick had a serious heart defect picked up 16 days after returning home from hospital late last year. Ivy’s mum, Sam, 26, from Kendal, Cumbria, has another daughter, two-year-old Cora. My pregnancy with Ivy was fine, with nothing spotted in the scans, so when she was born on November 27 weighing a healthy 7lbs 11oz, my partner Piers and I were just excited about taking her home.

But after 10 days at home she lost interest in feeding, and our GP diagnosed her with bronchiolitis. By day 16 she hadn’t had a wet nappy for 24 hours so we took her straight to A&E. Her oxygen levels were rock-bottom, and thankfully one doctor decided to do further checks and it was discovered she had transposition of the great arteries (TGA) along with holes in her heart.

We were taken straight to Alder Hey Hospital for treatment but they couldn’t operate until she’d recovered from a viral infection. It was a waiting game, during which time she suffered everything from low sodium, to water retention to infections.

A CAT scan at the start of January showed she also had a problem with her coronary artery, which meant her operation would be longer, harder and more risky.

After being christened she underwent a six-hour ‘switch’ operation and had the holes in her heart fixed.

Ivy was stable in intensive care but every inch of her body was covered in a wire or a drain.

A week later she was allowed home. Ivy’s now doing brilliantly, with a battle scar down her chest to remind us all how close we were to losing her.

I now advise all my friends with new babies to use the Think HEART anagram.