A mum and dad were distraught when they found their newborn son 'lifeless' and 'blue' in his pram.
Joshua Michael Hodgkinson was just 11 days old when his parents, Chloe, 22, and Teejay, 25, noticed he had a slight cough. But when Chloe went to the doctors for a severe abscess on her leg, the pair looked into their son's pram and noticed he was 'blue' and 'lifeless'.
The couple from St Helens ran into Windermere Medical Centre and doctors took Josh straight into a treatment room and began CPR. Chloe said she thought her son was going "to die right in front of her".
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She told The ECHO: "I remember just sitting there with my head in my hands, distressed, thinking that my son was going to die right in front of me. Joshua’s Grandad rushed to the surgery to which he had to leave the doctors room, the atmosphere was just unbearable, seeing our son lying on concrete flooring receiving CPR was not something easily witnessed.
"Joshua eventually came around not long before the ambulance arrived. We were blue lighted to Whiston Hospital where nurses and doctors believed Joshua to have 'choked on milk'."
Doctors wanted to discharge Josh, but Teejay insisted they checked him again after spotting a new rash on his body. While being checked Josh stopped breathing again.
Chloe said: "We were taken to a high alert room to which Joshua was placed on assisted breathing with so many cannulas coming out of his tiny body. I was distraught. I couldn’t even bear to think about going upstairs to the ward to get myself checked whilst my son was near enough dying next to me."
After being looked over again, doctors diagnosed Josh with sepsis, a life-threatening illness that occurs when your immune system overreacts to an infection. Josh remained in hospital for seven days and spent two of those in intensive care.
Chloe said: "Joshua experienced cold and flu symptoms leading up to his diagnosis. With already a one-year-old daughter at home, we thought it was nothing more than a slight bug. Once stabilised, Joshua was placed in 24 hour intensive care to which he was not allowed to feed. As a new born, you can only begin to imagine how distressing this was for us as parents.
"He underwent a brain scan, X-rays, heart scans and a lumber puncture to which we were not allowed to attend due to it 'not being a nice sight'. After a week of antibiotics and round the clock care, Joshua began to improve steadily."
Now three-years-old, Josh is thriving, happy, and very cheeky, but Chloe wants to raise awareness of sepsis in babies and the signs to look out for.
Sepsis can be very hard to diagnose children and babies, as symptoms vary in different people. Symptoms can include blue, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue, a rash that doesn't fade when you roll a glass over it, difficulty breathing, a weak or high-pitched cry that's different to normal and being sleepy.
Chloe told The ECHO : "With Joshua, his signs of sepsis came from cold and flu symptoms. He did not have a high temperature nor was he displaying any abnormal symptoms due to babies being rather lazy anyway. But we insist you go with your gut!
"It’s scary to think that if we was not at the doctors surgery at the point of time, we could of lost our son."
To find out more about sepsis, click here.
