Chris Watson, 32, and his wife Louise, 30, welcomed their baby girl Lottie prematurely in April. She was born by emergency delivery three months early in order to save her life. She weighed just one pound and three ounces at the time of her birth, but nearly nine months later, she weighs nine pounds and was able to come home to celebrate Christmas with her parents and big brother.
“Our treasured daughter Lottie was born three months early,” said Watson. “Lack of blood flow and loss of amniotic fluid resulted in an early delivery. Lottie had stopped growing and had reduced movements – she was delivered just in time.”
According to The Daily Record, the baby girl spent the first 13 weeks of her life outside the womb at Wishaw General Hospital, where she needed an immediate blood transfusion to save her life, and at one point even fell below one pound, one ounce. Doctors were persistent in providing the best care possible.
Debbie McNaughton, associate director for donor services at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, said blood from more than 100 donations goes to newborn babies every month.
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“We work with Scottish hospitals carefully to ensure the best blood products are available for all patient groups,” she explained. “An important patient group is premature babies who need specialised products.”
Lottie was one of those babies, and Watson explained how ill Lottie was when she was born prematurely. “We knew she needed a transfusion before the numbers came back from the labs. Her colour would completely drain,” he said.
He added that “[s]he was like a whole new baby after her transfusion.”
Watson said that it had “not crossed his mind” to give blood before this situation with his daughter, but after seeing the difference it made for Lottie, he pledged to start donating “as soon as she was well.”
And he and his wife remained true to this promise. “In September,” he said, “I was able to attend the Wishaw Give Blood session with my wife Louise to give my first ever donation… I wanted to give back because if it wasn’t for the kindness of strangers who gave up their time and blood, I wouldn’t have my little girl.”
Delivering a baby prematurely due to a medical concern is not an induced abortion. An induced abortion is carried out to deliberately and intentionally kill a child prior to delivery.
