A premature baby who was given just a 10 percent chance of survival at birth is now thriving.
Reggie Sturgess, aged 2, weighed just 2 pounds, 1 ounce when he was born via emergency cesarian section at 26 weeks. Newborn Reggie’s hand was smaller than the size of his mother’s wedding ring. He had to be resuscitated three times after birth and had sepsis. But, against the odds, he survived.
“He’s the most incredible little boy,” said 37-year-old Kate, a mom of six from Southampton, Hampshire, England. “It’s just amazing to see him doing all the things we always hoped he'd do.”
Kate, who was previously told she couldn’t have kids, says her other five children were full-term normal deliveries, so “having such a tiny baby was a whole different ball game.”
“It’s beyond everything you imagine it would be,” she said. “He was like a bird just emerged from its egg, and his skin was see-through so all his little bones were visible.”
Kate found out she was pregnant with Reggie in May 2020. The pregnancy appeared normal, and Kate and her husband, Matt, 35, had a gender reveal in October. But she noticed unusual pains while watching television on Nov. 27 that year. Worried, the couple left for the hospital at 6:30 p.m., but within 10 minutes she was in labor. They phoned ahead and a huge team of medics met them on arrival at 6:50 p.m.
Kate was put under for her operation while doctors struggled to find her baby’s heartbeat. She woke in recovery two hours later to learn her baby was in intensive care, and because of the COVID restrictions, Matt had to wait outside.
She first met Reggie through a hole in his incubator at around midnight. He was on antibiotics for sepsis and nurses told her to take it hour by hour.
“I was so frightened to see him, because I loved him so much but was so scared of losing him,” she said. "They said his chances of survival were less than 10 percent. I was in shock and petrified—nothing prepares you for how vulnerable they are.
“In a few hours, I'd gone from watching TV to having a critically ill baby on life support.”
Doctors told the parents that Reggie got sepsis in the womb, which may have caused Kate to go into labor early. He spent seven weeks in an incubator before being moved to a different cot. At six weeks his lungs collapsed, and he suffered multiple infections over the weeks. Kate pumped her breast milk and Reggie was tube fed for nine weeks.
After laser eye surgery for detached retinas in both eyes, he finally went home on his due date, March 3, 2021.
Reggie is on oxygen all the time at the moment. But that hasn’t stopped him from growing into a happy child. His family take the tank to the park so he can play with his five siblings.
“We’re just very very lucky we got to bring our baby home, and he’s leading a happy full life,” Kate said.
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