Dalbeattie family to bring in New Year with special boy who won his fight for life
29.12.2022 - 07:45
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A Dalbeattie family will bring in the New Year with their special baby boy who fought for his life and won.
Little Niko McColl weighed the same as “a tub of spreadable butter” when he was born three months early.
Mum Stacey Kennedy needed an emergency Caesarian section at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow.
Niko was just 600 grammes – 1lb 5ozs – but has grown like a mushroom ever since.
Now Stacey, partner Graeme McColl and daughters Jamie-Leigh and Madison can’t wait for 2023 – and Niko’s first birthday on February 3.
Stacey said: “It will be an extra special New Year celebration and a new start for us all.
“I can’t thank the medical teams enough at DGRI and especially in Glasgow. They saved Niko’s life – without their care he would never have made it. They helped me and Graeme so much as well.
“They were absolutely amazing. Even in the scary and emergency times they were so calm.”
Stacey and Graeme planned for a May baby and were thrilled with the May 6 due date.
But at 20 weeks Niko was measuring small with diminished blood flow through the placenta.
Concerns over Stacey’s blood pressure grew and she was transferred to the Princess Royal on January 31.
But over the next two days her blood pressure would not stabilise and risks to mum and baby grew.
Stacey, herself a nurse at DGRI, said: “They took me down to theatre for an emergency Caesarian.
“They brought Niko out at 26 weeks and the nurse told me was wriggling and kicking but not breathing.
“They ventilated him manually and two nurses were holding him over with another inflating his wee lungs by squeezing a bag.
“She brought him round so I could see him and my heart melted.
“He was hardly bigger than the palm of the guy’s hand.”
Weeks