Our baby's Brain drain
emma’s boy faced so much, so young
Emma Smith 24, Kettering
my second pregnancy had gone without a hitch and my partner James, 28, and I were thrilled with our perfect newborn son Ethan.
But, a day after his
birth in December last year, Ethan made a slight grunting noise as I tried to feed him.
‘How long has he been doing that?’ a midwife asked.
‘On and off all night,’ I said. Next thing, Ethan was whisked off to the Special Care Baby Unit. As he grew more tired and irritable, a blood test showed he had septicaemia.
Tests showed his bowel had perforated – they didn’t know why. Waste was leaking into his body, poisoning his blood and causing his organs to fail.
‘We’ve put Ethan on life support,’ a doctor said.
I was terrified as he was transferred to Leicester Royal Infirmary for an emergency op. ‘Is he going to die?’ I cried. ‘His survival chances are low,’ the consultant said. I was devastated. But the op was a success and Ethan was home within a months with a stoma, which he still has.
But, just over a week later, he was back in hospital, couldn’t stop vomiting. An ultrasound revealed hydrocephalus – a build-up of fluid in the brain – and a blockage.
‘Hydrocephalus can be fatal. It’s a good thing you brought him in,’ said the doctor.
He had medication to treat the blockage, but continued to deteriorate. Soon he weighed just 7lb – 6oz lighter than at birth.
In April, at Oxford Hospital, surgeons drilled a hole through Ethan’s skull to drain excess fluid.
But the fluid kept building back up, so doctors had to act fast to save our boy’s life. They inserted a tube and a valve into his brain to drain the fluid once it reached a certain pressure.
The fluid then travels by another tube to his stomach, where it’s reabsorbed.
It proved successful – and now, 10 months old, he’s finally back home with us and his big sister Lydia, 3.
His development’s slightly delayed, and he has respiratory problems, but Ethan is such a happy little boy.
You can see the shunt under the skin behind his ear, a constant reminder that it saved his life. It’ll stay there forever.
He’s been through so much, but Ethan still faces every day with a smile.
We couldn’t be more proud.
Doctors had to act fast to save our son’s life…