‘We want anyone in a similar situation to never give up hope’ - Halifax parents’ delight as premature Belle thrives

Rebecca was only 25 weeks into her pregnancy when she gave birth in January, with daughter Belle weighing only 1lb 12.

Belle then spent 70 days in special care before finally being allowed to come home on March 16.

Rebecca’s waters broke on New Year’s Eve last year, having had no signs of an early labour.

“I was actually premature myself,” she says. “I was born at 31 weeks and weighed 2lb 14oz.

“We drove straight to Calderdale Royal but they don’t accept babies under such gestation so we were transferred to the only available hospital at that time, which was Hull.”

After three nights there, Rebecca returned home in Holmfield for one evening but began having contractions in the middle of the night.

“We were transferred to Bradford Royal Infirmary’s women and newborn unit for delivery, I was in labour for 13 minutes when I gave birth naturally with no pain relief,” she said.

“We saw her for a matter of minutes and she was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

“My placenta ruptured everywhere so it actually took them longer to piece it together than me delivering her.

“Her skin was so translucent they had a clear plastic bag ready to put her in once delivered.

“We had to wait a few hours to see her, we saw her in her incubator and had to wait to hold her. We thankfully managed to hold her the next day and managed to have skin to skin together.”

Belle was in Bradford for two weeks before being transferred to Calderdale, where she was suspected of having necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), so the family were moved to Leeds General Infirmary’s NICU ward in the middle of the night, spending two weeks there before moving back to Calderdale Royal.

“She had a number of blood transfusions, she had oxygen and CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), and then when we came home we went into complete isolation for coronavirus then the official lockdown came into place.

“Lockdown has made it incredibly difficult, we haven’t had many follow up visits with professionals, many of her visitors only got to see her through a window.”

Reflecting on her experience, Rebecca, 25, said: “I think going through everything that we have gone through you never realise how strong you really are until you have to be.

“She needed us to be strong and believe in her and we did and I truly think that shows.

“Those 70 days were the toughest days of our whole life. We couldn’t have done it without each other and seeing her beautiful face every day kept us motivated with the long nights of worrying, the early mornings sitting in the NICU to watch her fight to survive.

“We longed to get her home, that moment of getting her home was so surreal.

“We are so grateful to everyone in the NICU from Bradford to Leeds to Calderdale.

“Leaving her was the most difficult part but trusting them to look after your baby and knowing how amazing they are at their job makes it that little bit easier.

“We want anyone who may be in any form of situation similar to ours to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and to never give up hope.”

And Rebecca says Belle is now a happy, healthy baby.
“Thankfully she has no medical conditions and she is now doing really well, she’s completely thriving.

“She’s eight months old but still only in 3-6 month clothing. She weighs roughly around 14lb now.
“We are slowly trying to get out a lot more and get her exploring the world a little.

“She is so special and so loved by the both of us.”