Lydia, My Little Miracle
Born at 25 weeks by emergency Caesarean n, Lydia’s life was in the balance – but a team m effort helped her family through the storm
“The hospital couldn’t find a heartbeat”
After three years working as an astrophysicist in Chile, Rachel Gilmour took the decision to put her career on hold to settle down with her new husband, Douglas, and start a family.
“My speciality was black holes but it’s not the sort of career that you can work in part-time, so we came to Scotland to settle. It wasn’t too long before my first son, John, came along and Peter followed a couple of years later.”
The couple started trying for baby number three, but sadly life didn’t go to plan.
“Two pregnancies ended in miscarriage at ten weeks. It was a difficult time but after a few months, we started trying again.”
Rachel had mixed emotions when she found out she was pregnant again but a strong faith that, whatever the future held, everything was going to work out.
“I had an image of a storm ahead and I knew that something was going to be difficult, but that I just had to sail straight through. I had this feeling of peace.”
Rachel passed the 10- week milestone and all was looking well until at 25 weeks, she felt ill after a day out.
“I had had a lovely time at a Boys’ Brigade barbecue but when I came home that evening I felt really sick. I thought I must have food poisoning. I felt under the weather for the next couple of days but, when Douglas asked me if I wanted him to delay a business trip to London, I told him to go ahead as it was just a bug.”
What happened next will remain with Rachel forever.
“It was Peter’s nursery sports day and I’d asked my mother-in-law, Elinor, to attend because I felt too unwell. She had been a midwife and a nurse, and she took one look at me and said, ‘We need to get you to hospital.’
“What we didn’t know was that my appendix had burst and that it was poisoning both me and the baby.”
On arriving at Forth Valley Hospital, it became clear the situation was serious.
“They couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat and I