Cooling treatment saves baby Ella

A mum whose baby was saved by neonatal cooling treatment at the Rosie is raising funds to support the Rosie Hospital Campaign.

 

Rachel Claxton’s daughter Ella was stillborn and revived after 25 minutes. She underwent vital cooling treatment after being transferred to the Rosie and is now doing spectacularly well.

 

Rachel, who also wants to raise awareness of neonatal cooling, says: “When I went in to labour, all the monitors showed everything was all well and ok, then I felt the urge to push. Two pushes and Ella was born and whisked away, all I remember seeing was blood coming from her nose.

 

"The next 45 minutes were the longest of my life, consultants, doctors, midwives everywhere. I caught a glimpse of somebody doing chest compressions on my baby and bags of blood being passed through.

 

"After 45 minutes I was told she was alive and later found out she had been dead for 25 minutes.

 

"After three hours I got to see her. She was critical and about to be transferred to the Rosie to undergo cooling treatment. The lack of oxygen is known to cause brain damage and all her organs had been affected.

 

"It was a matter of taking hour by hour, day by day. 72 hours of being cooled and she came through though we won’t know how well it's worked straight away - it could take years.

 

"Today I believe the cooling treatment saved my daughter from severe brain damage or even death. She is nearly 10 months old and is doing really well. She undergoes physio regularly as she is still not crawling about and they have noticed right sided weakness.

 

"But this is nothing, she is with us and a miracle baby at that."

 

Ella's doctor, Dr Topun Austin, said: "We're all taught to wrap a baby up and keep it warm when it's born. But if the baby is born without much sign of life and is in distress, we now recommend they are cooled by a few degrees. It can really help prevent permanent and severe brain damage."

 

The new neonatal unit at the Rosie will contain three specialised cooling cots. For more information on the Rosie Hospital Campaign click on the link to the right.

 

 

Back to top