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A baby who spent the first eight minutes of his life
'dead' has made a remarkable recovery.
Theo Babbage's heart stopped beating as soon as he was born, leaving his
distraught parents facing 'the longest eight minutes' of their lives.
Doctors rushed to resuscitate him and reduce the chance of life-altering
brain damage.
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To his parents' utter relief, they succeeded in bringing him back to
life.
Now five months old, Theo is a completely healthy baby.
His mother, Rachel Cherry, 30, said: 'When you give birth, all you want
to hear is your baby cry for the first time, but when Theo was born
there was nothing.
'I kept waiting and waiting but there was no screaming or crying, and I
knew something must be wrong.
'I stared around at the shocked looks on the medics' faces - I kept
asking if my baby was OK but no one could answer.
'I thought my baby had died.'
When she heard doctors counting down from five, she and Theo's father
Adam, 29, knew their son was being resuscitated.
'Time passed so slowly. As a parent, it was unbearable being in the same
room as my dying child,' she said.
'After eight minutes he was pale blue from being starved of oxygen for
so long.
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'So when we were told they had restarted his heart, a wave of relief
swept over me and Adam - we just had to hope he'd be OK.'
With the drama over, Theo was rushed away to intensive care.
'Like any new mother, all I wanted to do was hold him in my arms and
comfort him,' said Ms Cherry.
'Thankfully that's all behind us now. He's recovered and we're so
eternally grateful to the hospital staff at the Norfolk and Norwich
Hospital.
'Without them our little baby boy wouldn't be alive today.'
After a normal pregnancy, Ms Cherry's problems began in the delivery
suite, when nurses explained Theo was stuck.
Doctors had no other option but to perform an emergency Caesarean to
free him.
Following this, doctors then had to bring Theo back to life by clearing
his lungs before they could restart his heart.
It was uncertain whether he would suffer permanent brain damage or
cerebral palsy from the oxygen deprivation.
His mother said: 'We had no other option than to wait by his beside and
hope he would be OK.
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'He was having seizures on his first night and I thought he wouldn't
make it.
'He was so fragile - even when I picked him up for the first time he
still had tubes all over him, so I had to be very careful.
'It was frustrating not being able to bond with him , but noone knew
what would happen from one day to the next and whether he'd pull
through.
'When he cried for the first time after one week in intensive care it
was such a relief.'
It took 12 days before Theo could be discharged with his delighted
parents and he quickly settled into life at home.
Ms Cherry said: 'Now he's home we can finally bond with our baby and
he's loving all the attention.
'He's absolutely gorgeous and constantly has us in fits of giggles, he's
a very comical baby.
'I am so grateful to the doctors who saved our baby's life.
'It really could happen to anyone, but thankfully the right equipment
was available to keep our baby alive, although not all hospitals have
one.'
The couple are now fundraising to buy another £10,000 specialist
incubator - the same as the one that saved Theo's life - in the hope
that it will help other families.
Theo was cooled for his first four days to reduce the chance of any
damage, which fortunately he didn't suffer.
Ms Cherry and Mr Babbage hope that by acquiring another incubator, more
babies will be as lucky as Theo.
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