Kirsten and Jamie’s baby daughter Myla, from Newcastle upon Tyne, fell ill at three weeks old and was rushed to hospital. Despite suffering loss of hearing, her family feel lucky to have her here with them smashing life, as Kirsten tells us here.
“Our newborn daughter Myla had been perfect, feeding and sleeping great.
“At three weeks old, we noticed she was jerking a little, but thought it was just her nervous system adjusting. Through the night it got worse, and I said I was going to call the health visitor/doctor first thing to have her checked over.
“At just before 6am, Myla had a seizure. We rang 111, who were going to send an ambulance, but it may have taken two hours. We live 10 minutes from the hospital, so we rushed straight in.
Two more seizures
“Myla had two more seizures in A&E and had to be given anti-seizure medication. Then she had to have CT and MRI scans, which showed old blood on her brain caused by the C-section.
“Myla was a bit of a mystery, as nothing was adding up.
“They started pumping her full of antibiotics, and we were taken to the ward. All her stats started dropping, and her temperature peaked.
“The next day one eye was fully closed and her mouth drooped. It was very touch and go this day as she took a real turn for the worse.
Picked up a little
“On the Saturday, Myla picked up a little, and they took her for a lumbar puncture, which came back with Strep B and meningitis.
“Then, new, stronger antibiotics were given to start treating the infection.
“After a day, her eye fully opened again and her mouth came back to normal. She was responding amazingly well to treatment.
“After 14 long days and nights, we were discharged.
“The week after, we had to go for another hearing test, and that confirmed she had lost two-thirds of her hearing in one ear, so she now had a little hearing aid to help with her speech.
Doing amazing
“Myla is 11 months old now and doing amazing! She’s showing no signs of any lasting effects on her brain.
“We may have been really unlucky, but we feel so lucky too to have her here smashing life. If we hadn’t got her to hospital at the first sign when we knew something wasn’t right, it could have been such a different story.
“There have been lots of follow-up scans and checks to make sure she’s okay over the last 11 months.
“We’re so grateful to that hospital, and we will be forever. They saved our little treasure. But we’ve been left pretty traumatised and mentally scarred after nearly losing our daughter at three weeks. No new parents should ever have to go through that.”
