A DRAMATIC premature birth which left a family shell-shocked has resulted in a beautiful miracle baby - weighing in at just one pound three ounces.
Jamie Easton, now just over a week old, is doing well now but he gave everyone a scare when he decided to show himself 15 weeks before he was due.
Mum Rebecca, 27, of Tingle Bridge Lane, Hemingfield, had only been able to touch her first-born through the holes in his incubator. But on Tuesday, a week after his birth, she was able to pick him up for her first cuddle while he was still connected to wires and tubes.
Rebecca was having a perfectly normal pregnancy. Her scans were fine and she had all the normal symptoms. But last Monday she began swelling, and was taken to Barnsley Hospital.
She was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and told the baby would arrive within three weeks. But the next day, just 25 weeks into her pregnancy, Rebecca was taken by ambulance to Hope Hospital in Manchester and tiny Jamie was delivered by caesarean that night.
Rebecca’s mum, Angela Lee, was on holiday in Cyprus last Monday when she got a phone call to say the baby was on the way. She said: “Rebecca was just getting used to being pregnant and telling people about it, then all of a sudden, she’s a mum. I’m a grandmother but stuck in Cyprus.
“Part of me is glad I didn’t know just how bad it was. It was frightening, but the staff at Barnsley didn’t scare them. They were great and told them everything would be fine.
“But pre-eclamsia can be serious. If you leave it too long you can lose one or the other, or both. I’m so glad everything is fine now.”
Angela managed to get back to England on the Wednesday. Since then, she has been visiting Manchester every other day in between holding the fort at the family business, Dearne Valley Cycles, on Barnsley Road, Wombwell.
She said: “Everyone says he’s the smallest thing they’ve ever seen. They’ve had to wash him with cotton buds because he’s so delicate. I’ve not had a cuddle yet but I’ve held his hand through the hole in the incubator. He’s absolutely perfect. Everything’s there, just really small.”
Dad Jason, 32 this week, moved into a flat within the hospital for parents who need to be nearby. Rebecca joined him on Tuesday this week when she was discharged from her hospital bed.
Barnsley Hospital can provide specialist care for premature babies but only from 28 weeks. Hope Hospital has a specialised unit which can care for even earlier births but Jamie is said to be the smallest in the unit at the moment.
