LITTLE FIGHTER OTIS READY TO GO HOME AFTER ARRIVING THREE MONTHS EARLY
JUST weeks after Otis Bowie Earls was born three and a half months early, he was so poorly that nurses said he was “growing his angel wings” ready to ascend to heaven.
But with the support of neonatal staff at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) he made incredible progress and could now be discharged home in the new year.
Mum Adrienne Earls, from Canton, Cardiff, was due to give birth on December 7 but ended up welcoming tiny Otis into the world on August 31 weighing just 1lb 4oz.
She said she started experiencing mild pains and decided to go to UHW for a precautionary checkup with her husband Ray.
But while she was there the pains intensified and were arriving more frequently.
“The nurse who saw us explained that I was probably just experiencing Braxton Hicks but, as they didn’t seem to be subsiding, I would be transferred to the delivery room just in case,” the charity worker said.
“Looking back, that was a pretty worrying sign but at the time I just kept thinking that this wasn’t going to happen and it would all be okay.
“In the delivery suite we were introduced to the medical team who again explained that at this stage of pregnancy it was more than likely just practice contractions.
“But, doing their best to keep us calm, they told us about the neonatal unit and what it would mean if our baby was born early just in case.
“They explained that he would need to spend time in a neonatal unit, perhaps there at the UHW or in a different unit like Swansea, and all I can remember thinking is ‘Our baby can’t be born in Swansea, Ray’s a City fan!’.
“I think we were just in this strange numb limbo where nothing felt real.”
By 9.30pm Adrienne’s pains were getting stronger and closer together and the neonatal team was called over.
Within minutes of them arriving Adrienne felt an overwhelming urge to push and at 10.49pm little Otis was born.
Adrienne said: “I couldn’t hear or see Otis because, as we were told later, the medical team had to take him immediately to be resuscitated.
“Ray kept telling me to look at him but I couldn’t, I just kept looking over waiting for some response.
“After what felt like forever the nurse looked over and smiled and told us that Otis was stable enough to be taken to the neonatal unit.
“They wheeled him over on their way out and all I remember seeing was this tiny baby in what looked like a really big, woolly yellow hat.”
By the time Ray and Adrienne saw their son again it was early the next morning.
Although neither of them had ever been in an environment like the neonatal unit before they said they did not feel scared.
Instead they just felt strangely detached from the situation.
Adrienne added: “We spent an hour or two just staring at Otis, covered in wires with his paperthin skin.
“I don’t think the gravity of the