A baby girl given less than a 10% chance of survival when she was born at 22 weeks weighing just 1lb 1oz has defied the odds and returned home to Bridgend. Imogen was delivered at Swansea's Singleton Hospital on 6 September after her mother Rachel Stonehouse went into premature labour. She spent 132 days in hospital before being discharged.
Rachel, 28, said the experience was the scariest time of her life but praised NHS staff as 'superheroes in scrubs'. She went into labour days after a gender reveal party, initially attending Bridgend's Princess of Wales Hospital with a bleed before being transferred to Singleton. Imogen was born minutes after arrival and placed in a bag in an incubator to mimic the womb.
Imogen suffered a grade three brain bleed, a heart murmur, pulmonary haemorrhage, sepsis and required numerous blood transfusions during her 98 days in neonatal intensive care. Despite these challenges, doctors are now happy with her organs and she has no sight or hearing problems, though she still requires oxygen at home.
The hospital provided the couple with nearby accommodation for 13 weeks and offered PTSD counselling. Rachel was able to provide breast milk for about 16 weeks with help from midwives. On 15 January, Imogen was moved to the special care baby unit at Princess of Wales Hospital for a further 34 days before finally going home.
Rachel said the reason for her premature labour is unclear but she has been told there is a 40% chance of it recurring. For now, she is cherishing every moment with her daughter, saying: 'Imogen has gone through so much and more than we will ever go through in our lifetime and she smashed it.'
