Mum speaks of baby's miracle survival (From This Is Local London)

Mum speaks of baby's miracle survival

6:20am Monday 16th February 2009 in

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When Agatha Maud Holloway was born on New Year’s Eve 2007, there wasn’t the usual celebrating in the maternity ward like you might expect.

She was born early, at 29 weeks, and the first 14 weeks of her life were spent fighting for her life in hospital. Her parents Samantha and Neil returned to their home in Cobham after a last-minute break in Antigua on December 27 but the romance was short-lived as Samantha began feeling unwell on their return.

She said: “I was sent to St George’s in Tooting but they said I was fine and discharged me. I had an achy back but because my antenatal classes weren’t due to start until January 3, I didn’t know that was a sign of early labour.

“The midwife came round to see me and an hour and a half after she left, my waters broke. I had no idea what was happening.”

When she arrived at the hospital at 7.30pm she was told she was in labour. Despite being petrified of hospitals, to the point of booking in with a birth centre, she stayed calm because she knew adrenalin slowed down the birthing process.

All that changed when she was told Agatha’s heart had stopped and they had 15 minutes to deliver her.

A tearful Samantha described the moment she realised her baby's heart had stopped inside her: “I was devastated. I remember there were sirens going off and it was the most frightening experience of my life.

“The worst thing was when they told me she was born and I couldn’t hear her cry. They took her away from me straight away and I wasn’t able to see her.”

Fortunately doctors managed to revive little Agatha, who weighed in at 3lb 11oz, but she still was life-threateningly sick.

She was taken to St George’s level four neonatal intensive care unit, designed for the most critical babies.

“Neil was allowed to the intensive care unit to see her and that is where we got our first picture of her. She had two black eyes, her body was swollen, and the pink bonnet on her head which looked quite sweet was actually holding in the wires from her life support machine.

“It isn’t a nice picture. It was a pretty horrific sight. She was a seriously unwell baby.

“She spent nine weeks in that room, eight weeks of which were on life support.”

Doctors went on to save Agatha’s life three or four times but when Samantha saw Patricia Hamilton, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics, rushing towards them in her jeans after being called in from home, she feared the worst.

They called the vicar in that night.

“This Christmas I went to a party at the hospital for 'graduates' of the neo-natal unit. I found it really difficult, not seeing the babies but noticing those who hadn’t made it. To see the grief on a parent’s face is horrific.

“The workers were all fussing over Agatha and I was saying 'Why do they all remember her?' I couldn’t understand why, of the hundred of babies they look after, they remembered her. Then someone told me she was one of the sickest babies they had looked after that year who hadn’t died.

“After that I sat in the car and just thought oh my god. That really spurred me on to do something.”

Agatha was given the last incubator in the unit before it shut down for 48 hours. Any later and she wouldn’t have survived the transfer.

“St George’s doesn’t have a reputation for affluence but when you talk to the doctors and nurses there you realise the ground-breaking, life-saving work they are doing.

"That’s why I set up Agatha’s Appeal to raise £25,000 for an incubator for the hospital. Hopefully it can save lives like they saved Agatha’s.”

It wasn’t until September 23 that doctors confirmed Agatha would definitely live, nearly nine months after she was born.

“I can’t put into words how it felt to hear that. We kept looking at her thinking she’s ours. It felt like she’d just been born. She was christened on New Year’s Day and we were finally able to celebrate.

Reverend Brian Thomas, who married Samantha and Neil, drove up from Somerset for the christening at St Andrews, Cobham, and became the first person to make a donation to Agatha’s Appeal with the petrol money he refused to accept for his journey.

Proud mum Samantha said: “She’s still tiny but she’s such a character, and you wouldn’t expect any less considering the battle she has fought.”