Laura's premature baby

Laura and her husband Nick have no doubt that the staff at The Portland Hospital saved their tiny son Grey's life.

‘It was their attention to detail and caring attitude that means Grey is here with us today.’ Laura says.

Grey was born at 31 weeks after Laura started bleeding and having contractions. He was delivered by an emergency caesarean section, weighing 4lbs. But later that day, he developed breathing problems and had to be put on a ventilator. Further investigations detected he also had heart problems, including a hole in his heart and valves that hadn’t closed. Worse was to follow when Grey developed sepsis and started losing weight.

Doctors suspected he was developing necrotising enterocolitis, a disease that affects premature babies where parts of the bowel start to die. Only one in five babies who have a confirmed diagnosis survive. Luckily, Grey’s infection was caught early enough to be treated with antibiotics and intravenous nutrition, avoiding surgery. Grey spent eight weeks in hospital – five and a half of them in The Portland’s oNeonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).