A baby who was born weighing less than a loaf of bread at just 535g has finally returned home after battling for her life in the hospital for five months.
The child was born on March 4, 2022,, after her mother, Lauren Ormston, 27, went into premature labour at just 23 weeks at St Peter’s Hospital, Surrey, UK.
Due to the frailty of her condition, doctors informed Lauren and her fiance, Oliver Dewey, 31, that baby Isla had a 10% chance of survival as she was tiny.
After she was born, she was rushed to the neonatal unit where she was later diagnosed with a level two bleed on the brain and a hole in the heart.
The new mom, speaking on her experience said,
‘I started getting terrible stomach pains and I just thought the baby was moving around, but when the pain intensified, I knew something was wrong.’
‘They suggested getting transferred to a bigger hospital which would increase the chance to 30%.
‘It was terrifying.
‘But I had to take the chance, and I’m so glad I did.
‘The birth was easy, and I only had gas and air.
‘I could only cuddle Isla for six minutes before she was taken to a ventilator.
‘She looked so small and fragile, like she would snap at the slightest bit of movement.
‘I was so worried, but I knew my baby girl was a fighter.
‘Her skin was transparent, I could see every little vein within her body.
‘I lived each day, never knowing if she would make it, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.
‘After six weeks, she came off the ventilator but needed an oxygen mask over her face.
‘We had our first cuddle, and her little hand was barely the size of the tip of my husband’s pinky finger.’
Baby Isla spent five months in the hospital and was finally discharged on July 12th 2022 at 10lb 8oz.
However, she lost one of her eyes during an unsuccessful surgery but Lauren, the new mom, said losing an eye isn’t the worse thing that could have happened to Isla and she’s excited that her daughter survived despite the slim chances.
