Harry Smith

I found out I was pregnant with Harry on Saturday 29th November 2008, 3 months before our wedding, we had planned to have a baby after the wedding but this was a lovely suprise for us.

Everything seemed to be going fine and we were really looking forward to being parents. We had our 12 week scan in January and I'll never forget the moment we saw our baby's heartbeat on that screen, it was just amazing. I instantly fell in love with my baby. I had severe morning sickness and was diagnosed with Hyperemesis and had 2 stays in hospital in January. I was given medication to control my sickness and everything was perfect. I married Michael on 21st February 2009 and it was a lovely day and our baby shared that special day with us, it was the happiest day of my life. Newlyweds with a baby on the way.

At my 20 week scan in March we were told that there was no fluid around the baby, I was asked if I had a bleed or lost any fluid, I hadn't and as there was no fluid around baby they were puzzled so I was referred to the Fetal Medicine Unit at the RVI to see a consltant and have a high resolution scan 2 days later.

When we had the scan, it showed Kidney abnormalities and she suspected that it was early onset Autosomal Dominant Polycyctic Kidney Disease. (This runs in the family - Paternal side).

We were told that the reason for having no fluid is because his kidneys were not functioning and were not making any fluid/urine. She explained that the baby swallows the amniotic fluid, when swallowing the fluid this is what develops the lungs. The fluid then goes through the kidneys to get cleaned and into the bladder then back out around the baby. (Because his kidneys were not funtioning, no fluid was being made from around 14-16 weeks).

At a later scan at 27 weeks, my consultant realised that the kidneys weren't actually abnormal but in fact they was no kidney tissue at all. So the cause of him being unwell was because he had no kidneys. Known as Bi-Lateral Renal Agenesis. Even though this is the cause of all the problems, his kidneys or lack of, was not the primary concern.

The main concern and what would need to be dealt with first would be his underdeveloped lungs. Once he was breathing for himself and stable then they would deal with the problem of the absent kidneys by giving him dialysis and a kidney transplant. We were told there would only be a 5% chance of Harry being able to survive with his lungs being so underdeveloped.

At 20 weeks Gestation we were faced with the choice of Termination For Medical Reasons or to carry on with the pregnancy in the hope that he would survive.

After talking about it we decided to go ahead with the pregnancy, if we had terminated we would have felt like we took the chance away from him and would feel guilty for this for the rest of our lives, so we decided to carry on and give him the chance that we believe he truly deserved. As Harry was breech I decided to go with a C-Section at 39 weeks rather than a breech vaginal birth which would only add extra stress to Harry's lungs. I was booked in for a Section on 21st July 2009.

Harry had other ideas though and decided he was coming early! On 22nd June 2009 at 35 weeks Gestation I went into spontaneous labour and was 6cm dialated by the time I was taken down for an emergency c-section.
Harry was born at 14:50pm weighing 4lb 14oz (2.2kg).

When Harry was born he was in a poor condition and was dusky. His heart rate was less han 60 beats per minute and there was no respiratory effort from him. He was intubated within 1 minute and needed high inspiatory pressures to make any spontaneous chest movements. His heart rate improved to over 100 beats per minute and he was taken to the Neonatal Unit, on arrival to the neonatal unit his heart rate was less that 100 beats per minute. Harry had a Thoracocentesis procedure perfomred to drain air out of his Pleural cavity, the space between his lung and chest wall following the Collapse/Rupture of his lungs.

After my Section I was taken to a private room to see my family and was given a photograph of my baby boy, then straight away i was taken to see Harry. He looked so perfect, beautiful and perfect in every way. But he also looked very poorly which broke my heart. I knew he wasnt going to make it as soon as i saw him :-( It was truly heartbreaking.

After seeing that all they had done for him had no improvement on Harry's condition, we decided that it was in Harry's best interest to have his drains removed to be taken out of the Incubator and switch to Palliative Care, as any further help from the Neonatal team would only be prolonging the inevitable and putting Harry in pain.

We were taken back to our room where our family was and Harry was then brought to us, straight after with just his oxygen tube in and we both held him. I will never forget that moment that i first held him. I have never felt so proud in my life, even though i knew he was dying, he was my perfect boy and i loved him so much.

We then decided that it was 'time' to have his oxygen tube taken out and peacefully in my arms, the safest place of all he peacefully passed away at 17:55pm, just 3 hours old.

We are extremely proud of ourselves for making the choices we did throughout the pregnancy and we wouldnt change what we did. We spent 3 precious hours with Harry in our lives and we will cherish those memories for the rest of our lives. We done all we could for Harry by giving him his chance and the doctors gave us 3 precious hours with him and for that we are extremely greatful. He will be with us forever in our hearts and thoughts.

Thank you for taking the time to visit Harry's site and remember him xxx

If Love Could Have Saved You, You'd Have Lived Forever