| Steph and John Gill are parents to Katie (born Dec 2003) and Luke (born and died Aug 2007). Since Luke’s death, Steph and John have decided to honour Luke’s memory by raising funds for the Oliver Fisher Neonatal Unit at Medway Maritime Hospital, particularly the equipment and bereavement funds. Both of these played an enormous part in the treatment of Luke and in the comfort and support Steph and John received immediately after Luke’s death from the amazing staff on the neonatal unit. They also wish to provide information about all the things that parents have to go through in those first few weeks after the death of their child.
Luke was born on Friday 24th August 2007 at 1712 weighing a very healthy 8lb, considering he was two and a half week early. His early arrival by caesarean section was due to raised levels in the liver tests that Steph was being monitored for. Throughout the whole pregnancy there was never any question of Luke’s health, his scans and monitoring were all normal. Doctors believe that at some point either just before or during the C Section, Luke lost blood back down the umbilical cord. His delayed delivery due to problems found with Steph’s uterus and the fact that in four days he had gone from being 2/5 engaged to breech, plus the blood loss, meant that his little body went into shock as he was delivered. It took the midwife a few minutes to bring him round and get him breathing, but he was very obviously pale and cold. The paediatricians were called and they checked him over, but he was improving slowly so they felt no immediate intervention was required by them. At one minute his apgar score was four, but at five and ten minutes his score was eight. Luke was finally taken over to Steph for a quick cuddle and kiss before being dressed, snuggled in blankets and handed to John for a very special father/son cuddle. At this point Luke was still very pale, had a low temperature and was making a sighing kind of noise with every out breath. As soon as Steph was comfortable in recovery Luke was handed to her for skin to skin contact in the hope that he would be stimulated by the familiar smell and warmed by Steph’s own body heat. Upon arrival on the ward, Luke’s condition had deteriorated a little, he had become very floppy and his breathing seemed more laboured. The paediatricians were called and after a quick examination it was decided to take him to special care to be checked out thoroughly. After a quick cuddle with Steph Luke was taken to Special Care by the midwife. Steph just thought that her little baby son would be checked over, maybe given some oxygen and then returned to her on the ward in a short while. The reality was far from this. After being moved to a side room and a spell of feeling poorly herself, Steph and John were visited by the Consultant Paediatrician and a nurse, who explained that Luke was in fact very poorly. He had needed to be put on a ventilator and a number of lines had been put into him to give him essential medicine and fluids. They believed at this stage that he may be suffering from an infection and that he had some blood loss. John followed the doctor back to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and was overcome by what he found. He spent some time with Luke and the doctor then returned to Steph with photo’s of their beautiful little boy looking so poorly. After popping back in to see Luke, John went home and Steph rested between two hourly checks on her health by the Midwife. Steph was so anxious to see Luke that she ensured the Midwife would be able to help her get out of bed at 0630 (13hrs post surgery) so that she was ready in a wheel chair for John to arrive at 0645 to take her down to NICU to see Luke. All of Saturday and Saturday night John shared his time between Steph, Luke and taking Katie to see her baby brother of the first time. Katie accepted the tubes and lines and her only comment was how ’cute’ he was. Both sets of Grandparents were also allowed in to visit Luke. Even though Luke showed no real sign of improvement all that time, Steph and John still had hope that the medicine would soon kick in and he would start getting better. It wasn’t until Sunday morning when they finally managed to meet with the Consultant again. He was able to explain that Luke was in fact extremely poorly, and although stable he was constantly in danger of becoming critical with every passing minute. They confirmed that he was suffering from Low blood pressure, kidney failure and an infection, all caused by his body going into shock at birth due to massive blood lose. Luke was being transfused with blood and pumped with antibiotics and medicines to help raise his blood pressure, treat his kidneys and then other medicines to counter act the effects that the others caused. By Sunday afternoon Luke was deteriorating. There were two major problems that they needed to get on top of within the following few hours or they knew Luke would not survive. The first was the level of potassium in his blood. Transfused blood contains a higher level of potassium than normal blood and this kidneys and liver were not working to clean his blood and reduce the potassium and other toxins and infection in it. Too much potassium damages the heart and brain. The second problem was his kidney failure. At around 2030 on Sunday evening Luke’s heart stopped and he arrested, at the time Steph and John were waiting outside as the doctors were doing their evening hand over. His nurse came out as soon as they had revived Luke and stabilised him again and told them what happened. She assured them that he was now Ok and that it had been very easy to revive him. Steph and John were totally shocked, for the first time they realised just how seriously ill Luke was. While they comforted each other, the nurse returned and asked them if they wanted to get Luke baptised. John and Steph decided they would really like it if the Rev Brown from East Malling could come to the hospital and Baptise Luke, as he had baptised Katie and was a family friend. Rev Brown arrived at 2330 and held a short baptism service at Luke’s bedside. During the three hours since his first arrest and the baptism Luke showed some signs of improvement. He seemed to stabilise more and started producing small amounts of urine. It was like the cardiac arrest had some how bought extra life back into his body. At around 0100 the consultant showed signs of being happier with him and went home. The exact time of the events that happened in the next hour and fifteen minutes are a blur, but the events themselves are not. From around 0100 to 0215 Luke arrested a further four time. Each time his heart stopped quicker, his blood pressure dropped faster and it took longer to revive him. His consultant was called back in. During this time John and Steph did not leave Luke’s side, they kept a silent vigil by his cot, a safe distance from the doctors and nurses working hard to save him. Each time Luke’s heart stopped they knew they were closer to the possibility of having to sit and watch their little boy die, but they didn't want to be anywhere else. The prayers of all their friends and family were no longer enough. They needed a miracle but it never came. At around 0200 the consultant returned and started treating Luke after his fourth arrest. At 0215 Luke’s blood pressure dropped instantly and his heart stopped almost immediately. They tried for five minutes to revive, but given the situation and what had already occurred, they turned to John and Steph and all agreed they should stop. The nurse turned immediately to Steph and John and said she would remove his lines and tubes, wrap him in a blanket and hand him to them while he still had the smallest flicker of a heart beat left, so they could hold him til he was truly gone. |
