Matthew David Thomas
Matthew David Thomas was born on 14th May, 2005.
My pregancy was difficult from the start to say the least. I thought that I was having a miscarriage after a few weeks and today it still feels to my husband and I as if we did. It was so traumatic.
Two weeks before Matthew was born I was told that I would have to go into hospital and stay there until Matthew was born because I had a prolapsed cord whilst having Katie. It was a difficult couple of weeks because my husband had to look after the two children and go to work but I met some lovely ladies on the ward and managed so spend a lot of time laughing even through the difficult and often frightening times.
The night before he was born I woke up bleeding and I was rushed to labour ward. Early the next morning I was prepared to have an emergency section. Matthew was eventually delivered but he had been stuck because he was was transverse (lying across my stomach) and was bruised all over. We were quite worried at the time because during the section I had problems and my husband was sent out of theatre. Matthew was born 4lb 5oz. He was taken to special care and remained there for two and a half weeks. He had was given CPAP to help him to breath and had jaundice the same as the other two.
It was a difficult time for all of us because I wanted to be home with my other two children but knew that Matthew needed me despite the fact that he was cared for my the hospital staff. I knew that as soon as he could breastfeed he would be allowed to come home and I made it my mission to be with him as much as I could to do that.
Unfortunately, life is never that simple, there was no room in the hospital for me to stay. Determined I said that I would sleep on the floor next to him if it meant that he would be home with all the family sooner. I was allowed to sleep in a spare room on the Children's ward so that that I could feed Matthew during the night. My instincts were right and the first night that I stayed Matthew woke for a feed. Matthew came out of hospial two and a half weeks after he was born (on my birthday).We were so thrilled. Matthew also has two Hemangiomas - one on the back of his head and one on his hand.
The first few weeks were great, Matthew slept well, was breastfed and there were no problems, but later we seemed to have the same problems with Matthew breathing. His nose always seemed blocked, he had very noisy breathing and in the middle of the night he would be taken downstairs to help him to breathe. We tried everything to help him and in the end I took him to an oesteopath to see if she could explain what was wrong. She said that the nasal bones were not developed. Knowing that made all the difference to us. We knew that it would only be a matter of time before it would be okay. I must say that it is very difficult to explain these problems to the medical profession; the babies are discharged from hospital and it is only then as they start to develp that we see the problems. I am sure sometimes that people think we are mad, overprotective (yes they are special and always will be) but sadly most people do not have the sympathy and then the offers of any help don't follow.
Matthew now is lovely, he is a real character. He is still small like his sister. He has no problems. He starts Welsh school with his brother and sister in September 2008.