Mum saves newborn baby’s life thanks to doctor’s advice on This Morning
A mum says she managed to save her baby's life because of a piece of advice she heard on the This Morning TV show.
Danielle Sampson, 29, from Gilfach Goch, Wales, said she recalled Dr Ranj speaking about 'rescue breaths' when her newborn's airways became blocked.
She has told Wales Online of how she desperately performed the manoeuvre on her son's lifeless body while taking him to hospital.
Ms Sampson had been home with her newborn for just 30 minutes before she took him back to the doctors on a mother's instinct.
Fletcher Jack Williams had been born the day before in the early hours of October 19 at 5lb 13 oz after Danielle went through a long 68 hours of labour.
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There were no signs at the hospital that Fletcher's airways were blocked, but Danielle now knows one nostril was blocked with mucus and Fletcher was exhausting himself trying to breathe through the other nostril, as babies mostly breathe through their nose.
Hyper aware to respiratory issues due to her eldest son, Ewan David Thomas having cystic fibrosis, Danielle soon noticed something was not right.
She said: "He wasn't in any distress because of it but I noticed he dipped in his breath and I just thought something was not right.
"My partner kept telling me to go to sleep because I had a hard labour and was tired but I just couldn't. I don't know what would have happened if I had gone to sleep.
"He was really lethargic and I tried to breast feed him but he would not latch because he couldn't feed and breath at the same time, he wasn't getting enough oxygen," said Danielle.
She noticed Fletcher's breathing was rapid, and one side of his nostril looked sunken. Like a lot of new born babies, Fletcher was repeatedly sneezing and at one point managed to dislodge whatever it was that was blocking his airways.
Danielle said she tried to pull the mucus, which is common in the first 24 hours after a baby's birth, from his nose, however Fletcher did a deep inhale to compensate for the lack of oxygen previously, which caused the blockage to become stuck again.
She and her partner Fraser Williams quickly decided to rush newborn Fletcher to nearby Princess of Wales Hospital.
Sat in the back of the car holding Fletcher for the 20 minute drive, Danielle said he soon started to detiorate.
She added: "I was just thinking I have got to keep him with me, I was saying to him 'Come on Fletcher' but we were about ten minutes away from the hospital and that is when he went completely limp.
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"He was lifeless, his eyes were rolling at the back of his head. I was tapping his bottom, and flipped him over on his belly just to get him to gasp but that is when I remembered they don't breathe through their mouth.
"And it just came to me instantly to do the rescue breaths."
Danielle explained she has previous training in doing adult CPR but has never been taught what to do on babies and children.
She added: "I saw the rescue breaths with Dr Ranj on This Morning and it must have been about two years ago now.
"I always have This Morning on in the background but it was one of those things that caught my attention.
"I wasn't even pregnant at the time but my middle child was two at the time. I remembered it well because with baby CPR you are supposed to breathe over their mouth and nose.
"I remember thinking I have to do something but I was worried as he was so tiny I didn't want to breath too hard and I have only ever done CPR on plastic dummies before."
Danielle remembers seeing her partner look back at her in complete worry but after doing three breaths over Fletcher's mouth and nose, to his parent' relief, Fletcher let out an exhale.
She said: "He wasn't doing deep breaths but it was enough, I had obviously moved the mucus enough to clear his airwaves to breathe."
Danielle carried on with the rescue breaths until they got to the hospital. On arrival, Danielle spotted some porters which at the time she believed were paramedics who rushed Fletcher through.
The mum added: "I don't know how many doctors and nurses that were there, they gave him oxygen straight away and put an ECG on him, he then spent two nights in the high dependence unit, another day on the ward before we were allowed to take him home again."
Because Fletcher's older brother has cystic fibrosis, doctors first thought Fletcher could have the disorder, but he was only confirmed to be a carrier of the gene.
Now, three months later, Fletcher is healthy and happy living at home with his two older brothers Zachary Fraser Williams, who is three and Ewan who is eight.
Fortunately Fletcher has not suffered any long term effects of what happened.
Danielle added that this will be a great year for the family, as Ewan is due to start the new life-changing cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi.
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