Mum’s campaign for super Nova!
NICHOLA HELPING STAFF WHO SAVED BABY’S LIFE
A MUM-OF-EIGHT has spoken of how she nearly lost her baby daughter soon after she was born.
After having seven sons, Nichola Allen and husband Tony Allen welcomed their first baby girl on July 23, 2019.
But what should have been a celebration became a terrifying experience, as little Nova Allen nearly died.
Nichola, 35, had to be taken into the Queen’s Medical Centre at 26 weeks after signs that her waters were breaking.
With husband Tony needing to work full-time as a bus driver, it was agreed Nichola could go home after a week in the hospital.
But at 30 weeks, signs of infection were spotted during a check-up and she was admitted again – this time until the birth. “That broke me,” Nichola said. “It was the summer and I missed all the boys’ end-of-year performances and sports days.
“But the infection kept coming and going and then, it was the night before I had her, the infection rate went very high.”
After a rush to get Tony to the birth, Nichola delivered Nova at 1.23pm.
“We had to check with three people before we believed it – I hadn’t picked out any girl’s names.”
Born more than eight weeks premature, Nova weighed just four pounds and had to go into the neonatal intensive care unit.
“I’d never had that experience of neo-natal and it was horrible not being able to hold her, feed her,” Nichola said.
“It was scary seeing our baby with all these tubes in her. My mind was a mess and I felt like the worst parent ever.”
After being moved briefly to King’s Mill Hospital, Nova returned to the QMC neonatal unit and was allowed home around two weeks later.
But just a week later Nova started struggling to breathe.
“We were feeding her and then her lips were going blue and then her body went all lethargic,” Nichola said.
“I got her on the floor doing compressions and giving her mouth-tomouth while Tony called 999.
“We switched over and the paramedic did not come off the phone to me until the ambulance arrived – it was five minutes but felt like an hour.”
The family returned to hospital and Nova went into the paediatric intensive care unit.
“Again the staff were amazing like they had been in neo-natal,” Nichola said.
Nova’s tests came back normal and the illness was put down to a common cold.
But thankfully, it didn’t stop Nova from bouncing back and now being a confident, cheeky toddler.
Nichola said: “She went from one extreme to another – she was on machines but then within a week she was absolutely fine.
“Looking back now at those pictures, it was never her.
“She is already the boss of the boys – not a little princess like people thought.”
Nichola said the experience with Nova and the hospital staff was “eyeopening” and it has inspired her to want to raise money for the people who saved her life.
“Nothing was too much for them so I just want to raise as much as possible for them to help.”
The Allen family have been fundraising in various ways over recent months, including husband Tony dressing as Father Christmas for socially distanced visits over the festive period.
But now Nichola has joined other brave participants in a charity tandem skydive to raise money for the Nottingham Hospitals Charity in May.
Participants can raise money for their chosen area of City Hospital, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham Children’s Hospital or Ropewalk House.
Charlotte Marriott, community fundraiser at Nottingham Hospitals Charity, said: “We’re so grateful to Nichola for taking on our skydive to raise money for Nottingham’s NHS hospitals.
“It’s wonderful to see that little Nova is doing so well after a difficult start in life – I’m sure as she gets older she’ll be very proud of her mum for taking on this challenge to thank the hospital staff for all they’ve done for her.
“There are still places available for the skydive – so if your new year’s resolution is to take on an exciting challenge in 2021, then why not sign up?”
For more information or on the skydive, visit nottinghamhospitalscharity.org.uk/events/skydive-2/.
To sponsor Nichola, go to justgiving.com/fundraising/nichola-allen2