Emily Cressey should not even be here.
Her tiny, birdlike body should still be safely encased in her mother’s
womb, 36 weeks into the gestation process, 18-inches long and gaining
the weight she needs to thrive.
Instead, she is officially three months old, weighs just 4lb 8oz, and is alive only thanks to a supermarket sandwich bag that replicated the warmth and safety of her mother’s body.
Weighing little more than 1lb and born 16 weeks before her due date, Emily is one of Britain’s youngest surviving premature babies.
Pictured this week clinging to her mother’s finger, Emily’s battle for life touched the hearts of anyone who saw it.
And now The Mail on Sunday can reveal the incredible technique that doctors used to save Emily’s fragile life – and her mother’s own devastating account of watching her daughter struggle to survive.
Her fight for life has astounded medics at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh who delivered her.
The instant Emily was born, doctors delicately placed her inside a resealable plastic bag, identical to those sold in supermarkets.
It was an ingenious measure. ‘The bag acts as a micro environment,’ explains consultant paediatrician Dr Andrew Gallagher.
‘At this age she was too tiny for an incubator, which is designed for full-term babies.’
This week her exhausted but exhilarated parents, Claire Cressey and Alan Coultas, were given the news that on June 16, the day she was due to be born, little Emily will finally be allowed home.
Cradling her daughter, Claire, 34, said yesterday: ‘It’s been an emotional journey. Our world has been turned upside-down and what should have been every new parent’s happiest moment became our worst nightmare, delivering our beautiful daughter at 24 weeks.’
Latest UK statistics show that babies born at 24 weeks have between a 42-46 per cent survival rate. They are highly susceptible to losing body heat, so hospitals are putting them into sandwich bags to stave off death from hypothermia.
Ms Cressey, a former care assistant who lives in Coldstream in the Scottish Borders, added: ‘Emily’s finally out of the woods.
'It’s such a relief after everything we’ve been through. My little lady is on a roll now and there’s no stopping her.’
Here, in her own words, Claire, who has three older daughters, Caitlin, eight, Millie, four, and Brooke, 17 months, with long-term partner Alan, 47, describes the traumatic moments leading up to Emily’s birth on February 27 and the desperate battle to save her life.
Our much-wanted fourth child was supposed to arrive on June 16 but, instead, she had other plans. My waters broke without warning on Sunday, February 23, sending me into a state of panic.
I was aware that babies born before 24 weeks, and so still within the legal abortion stage, are labelled on the ‘edge of life’, as their lungs and other vital organs are not developed enough. As a result, not all hospitals are keen to intervene.
I remember counting in fear, wondering what would happen if the baby was born that day.
I now understand the despair that some parents must go through when their baby is born at 23 weeks or earlier and is allowed to die.
It was with relief I counted she was exactly 24 weeks that day and at least my baby would be given a fighting chance, whatever was about to happen. A day earlier, and it might have been different.
I’d been given a series of steroid injections on the day my waters broke, in an attempt to help accelerate the baby’s lung development. But with no sign of contractions starting, I was allowed to return home to rest.
It was a horrible waiting game, but when my contractions finally came, everything happened terrifyingly quickly.
We’d known that Emily was in the breech position, and by the time we reached the hospital 50 miles away one of her feet was sticking out.
To all intents and purposes, it was a ‘normal’ birth, except my baby was coming far too early.
But there she was, my little Emily Grace, weighing just 1lb 3oz, and our lives would never be the same again.
To my surprise, she was put into a sandwich bag straight away. It was just like any one you would get in a supermarket. But it apparently simulates the protective environment they’ve just come out of.
It’s like a little insulation jacket that helps them maintain body temperature because they lack the body fat to stay warm.
I didn’t have time to see her or touch her before she was taken away to the neonatal intensive care unit. I was sick with worry, not knowing if she would live or die.
Surrounded by tubes and on a ventilator, I prayed she would be OK. But it was impossible for anyone to know what would happen next.
The medical staff didn’t give us a prognosis and we didn’t dare ask the question, ‘How long will she live?’ I saw her for 20 minutes before I was taken back to the maternity ward and put into a side room. I could hear the happy sounds of other mums with their babies all around me.
It was horrendous.
Seeing her lying there was every mother’s worst nightmare. Her skin was transparent, her eyes were fused shut and her little hands and feet were still webbed.
We couldn’t touch her and spent hours sitting by her incubator. As she made it through the first 24 hours, then the first week, we began to allow ourselves to think that she might pull through.
By two weeks, Emily had already needed two blood transfusions. Still nervous, we decided to have her baptised, in case the worst happened.
It was a beautiful service, carried out at the side of her incubator. And still Emily fought on.
As the days passed, everyone kept saying to us, ‘That’s her through the danger point.’ But that’s not always the case with premature babies. It’s not unusual for their little bodies to become tired at three weeks and they die.
I was allowed home but I slept beside the phone with my clothes on, in case the call came to say she was deteriorating.
She’d finally opened her eyes and I was getting to hold her for the first time. I enjoyed the wonderful moment I never thought I would see. It was an absolutely amazing feeling.
I could see small but significant changes as her tiny hands and feet developed properly. Her condition continued to improve so much that, by nine weeks, Emily was finally transferred to Borders General Hospital, just half an hour from our home.
But we were brought down to earth with a bump again soon afterwards and reminded how long the road ahead of us is when Emily’s consultant told us she has a heart murmur that will require surgery at some point in the future.
The reality of being born at 24 weeks is starting to kick in.
The worry of long-term effects and wondering what the future holds for Emily is frightening.
But, ten days ago, in another first, I was able to bottle-feed Emily and, last weekend, give her a bath.
Those were beautiful moments most mothers take for granted, but after fighting for so long to keep her alive, it was a very precious time for me.
Slowly, the equipment has disappeared from my daughter’s room and she is now in a cot, rather than an incubator. It’s very scary seeing it go and will take a bit of getting used to.
We are incredibly proud and in love with her. Her strength and determination are nothing short of amazing.
She has fought amazingly hard to stay with us.
Instead, she is officially three months old, weighs just 4lb 8oz, and is alive only thanks to a supermarket sandwich bag that replicated the warmth and safety of her mother’s body.
Weighing little more than 1lb and born 16 weeks before her due date, Emily is one of Britain’s youngest surviving premature babies.
Claire Cressey cuddles her daughter Emily who
was born 16 week premature. Born that early, babies are deemed 'on the
edge of life', and less than half survive
Pictured this week clinging to her mother’s finger, Emily’s battle for life touched the hearts of anyone who saw it.
And now The Mail on Sunday can reveal the incredible technique that doctors used to save Emily’s fragile life – and her mother’s own devastating account of watching her daughter struggle to survive.
Her fight for life has astounded medics at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh who delivered her.
The instant Emily was born, doctors delicately placed her inside a resealable plastic bag, identical to those sold in supermarkets.
It was an ingenious measure. ‘The bag acts as a micro environment,’ explains consultant paediatrician Dr Andrew Gallagher.
‘At this age she was too tiny for an incubator, which is designed for full-term babies.’
This week her exhausted but exhilarated parents, Claire Cressey and Alan Coultas, were given the news that on June 16, the day she was due to be born, little Emily will finally be allowed home.
Cradling her daughter, Claire, 34, said yesterday: ‘It’s been an emotional journey. Our world has been turned upside-down and what should have been every new parent’s happiest moment became our worst nightmare, delivering our beautiful daughter at 24 weeks.’
Latest UK statistics show that babies born at 24 weeks have between a 42-46 per cent survival rate. They are highly susceptible to losing body heat, so hospitals are putting them into sandwich bags to stave off death from hypothermia.
Ms Cressey, a former care assistant who lives in Coldstream in the Scottish Borders, added: ‘Emily’s finally out of the woods.
'It’s such a relief after everything we’ve been through. My little lady is on a roll now and there’s no stopping her.’
Here, in her own words, Claire, who has three older daughters, Caitlin, eight, Millie, four, and Brooke, 17 months, with long-term partner Alan, 47, describes the traumatic moments leading up to Emily’s birth on February 27 and the desperate battle to save her life.
THE BEGINNING OF OUR NIGHTMARE
To this day, I will never know why I went into labour early, throwing us into a nightmare.Our much-wanted fourth child was supposed to arrive on June 16 but, instead, she had other plans. My waters broke without warning on Sunday, February 23, sending me into a state of panic.
I was aware that babies born before 24 weeks, and so still within the legal abortion stage, are labelled on the ‘edge of life’, as their lungs and other vital organs are not developed enough. As a result, not all hospitals are keen to intervene.
I remember counting in fear, wondering what would happen if the baby was born that day.
I now understand the despair that some parents must go through when their baby is born at 23 weeks or earlier and is allowed to die.
It was with relief I counted she was exactly 24 weeks that day and at least my baby would be given a fighting chance, whatever was about to happen. A day earlier, and it might have been different.
A FRANTIC DASH TO HOSPITAL
In the end, it would be another four days before Emily arrived on Thursday, February 27 – the day before my birthday.I’d been given a series of steroid injections on the day my waters broke, in an attempt to help accelerate the baby’s lung development. But with no sign of contractions starting, I was allowed to return home to rest.
It was a horrible waiting game, but when my contractions finally came, everything happened terrifyingly quickly.
We’d known that Emily was in the breech position, and by the time we reached the hospital 50 miles away one of her feet was sticking out.
THE DRAMA OF THE DELIVERY
Incredibly, they delivered Emily one-and-a-half minutes after we arrived in the labour suite.To all intents and purposes, it was a ‘normal’ birth, except my baby was coming far too early.
But there she was, my little Emily Grace, weighing just 1lb 3oz, and our lives would never be the same again.
'She was put into a sandwich bag straight away.
It's like a little insulation jacket that helps them maintain body
temperature because they lack the body fat to stay warm'
To my surprise, she was put into a sandwich bag straight away. It was just like any one you would get in a supermarket. But it apparently simulates the protective environment they’ve just come out of.
It’s like a little insulation jacket that helps them maintain body temperature because they lack the body fat to stay warm.
I didn’t have time to see her or touch her before she was taken away to the neonatal intensive care unit. I was sick with worry, not knowing if she would live or die.
SHOCK ON FIRST SIGHT
It would be an hour before I saw my daughter for the first time – and instead of that feeling of instant, overwhelming love, I felt panic and horror that she was so small.Surrounded by tubes and on a ventilator, I prayed she would be OK. But it was impossible for anyone to know what would happen next.
The medical staff didn’t give us a prognosis and we didn’t dare ask the question, ‘How long will she live?’ I saw her for 20 minutes before I was taken back to the maternity ward and put into a side room. I could hear the happy sounds of other mums with their babies all around me.
It was horrendous.
THE FIGHT BEGINS
The next day I managed to see Emily around lunchtime.Seeing her lying there was every mother’s worst nightmare. Her skin was transparent, her eyes were fused shut and her little hands and feet were still webbed.
We couldn’t touch her and spent hours sitting by her incubator. As she made it through the first 24 hours, then the first week, we began to allow ourselves to think that she might pull through.
By two weeks, Emily had already needed two blood transfusions. Still nervous, we decided to have her baptised, in case the worst happened.
It was a beautiful service, carried out at the side of her incubator. And still Emily fought on.
As the days passed, everyone kept saying to us, ‘That’s her through the danger point.’ But that’s not always the case with premature babies. It’s not unusual for their little bodies to become tired at three weeks and they die.
I was allowed home but I slept beside the phone with my clothes on, in case the call came to say she was deteriorating.
OUR FIRST CUDDLE
Emily would be one month old before I could finally hold her – a moment which coincided with Mothering Sunday and proved the perfect present.
'We are incredibly proud and in love with her. Her strength and determination are nothing short of amazing'
She’d finally opened her eyes and I was getting to hold her for the first time. I enjoyed the wonderful moment I never thought I would see. It was an absolutely amazing feeling.
THE ROCKY ROAD TO RECOVERY
By six weeks, Emily still remained in an incubator but her weight was up to 2lb 5oz and she could be dressed for the first time.I could see small but significant changes as her tiny hands and feet developed properly. Her condition continued to improve so much that, by nine weeks, Emily was finally transferred to Borders General Hospital, just half an hour from our home.
But we were brought down to earth with a bump again soon afterwards and reminded how long the road ahead of us is when Emily’s consultant told us she has a heart murmur that will require surgery at some point in the future.
The reality of being born at 24 weeks is starting to kick in.
The worry of long-term effects and wondering what the future holds for Emily is frightening.
But, ten days ago, in another first, I was able to bottle-feed Emily and, last weekend, give her a bath.
Those were beautiful moments most mothers take for granted, but after fighting for so long to keep her alive, it was a very precious time for me.
Slowly, the equipment has disappeared from my daughter’s room and she is now in a cot, rather than an incubator. It’s very scary seeing it go and will take a bit of getting used to.
We are incredibly proud and in love with her. Her strength and determination are nothing short of amazing.
She has fought amazingly hard to stay with us.
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