KING OF THE RING
Dylan weighed 1lb 14oz at birth, took 10 days to open his eyes, was on oxygen for weeks and his mum’s engagement band was like a bracelet but now he’s..
WHEN Dylan Morrison holds his mum’s engagement ring, it shows him how far he’s come.
The five-year-old was born so tiny the ring could have slid over his wrist like a bracelet.
Even at two months old, it was bigger than the palm of his hand.
Now, after an incredible fight for life, Dylan has started school and loves playing football like other kids.
He was just 1lb 14oz when he had to be delivered more than three months early after mum Jenna Gordon, 33, developed pre-eclampsia.
It left her with dangerously high blood pressure and put her and her baby’s life at risk.
But, as a first-time mum Jenna, from Inverur i e, Aberdeenshire, said: “I just thought I had a cold. I was so unwell, I could hardly lift my head off the pillow but I didn’t think anything of it.
“I went to the doctor and he sent me straight to the hospital that day.”
The sales assistant was given steroid injections to boost Dylan’s lung function and hours later he was born at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital on August 15, 2015.
He gave a “tiny squeak” when he was delivered, convincing his mum and dad Derek Morrison, 32, he was strong enough to survive.
Jenna said: “I’m a positive person and I just knew then that he was going to be fine, that he was going to get home.
“I just ignored all the beeping of the machines and hoped for the best. But I think my thoughts would have been completely different if he hadn’t made a noise.”
Jenna and Derek didn’t see Dylan for two days as he battled for life in the neonatal intensive care unit. He needed two blood transfusions and was hooked up to a ventilator.
He was off the breathing machine within a day but still needed oxygen for several weeks and his parents had to wait seven days before they were able to hold him. They could only hold his hand through the window of a glass incubator.
And it was two weeks before they got to see their son’s face for the first time without an oxygen mask.
Jenna said: “When he was a bit stronger, they took his mask off when they were cleaning him and we got to see his face and he just looked like a little old person.
“He was just so tiny. My engagement ring could have fitted on his wrist.
“And the smallest nappies you could get had to be folded in half.”
Early scans detected Dylan also had a heart murmur but it has corrected itself. Derek
said: “Seeing Dylan for the first time in his incubator without Jenna was scary, as we didn’t know what to expect.
“Now you would never know that he was born so early. He is our little fighter.”
Dylan now has a 15-monthold brother James, who was also delivered by emergency caesarean when Jenna had pre-eclampsia again. This time she spotted symptoms of
swelling, blurred visionn and headaches earlier.r.
The family arere telling their storyry to mark Neonatalal Intensive Caree Awareness Month.h.
“Dylan had a longong journey in neonataltal but the staff got us throughhrough it and we will always bee so grateful for them,” said jenna.nna.
“Now he’s the happiest little boy ever.”