Initially wrapped in a plastic freezer bag to replicate the womb
By Dave Andrusko
The mother of little Arthur Brumby calls him her “Christmas miracle son.” Due in late February 2018, Arthur was born at just 23 weeks. He weighed only 1lb 2oz when mother Laura Hillary, delivered him on October 31.
Ms. Hillary told the Daily Mail, “He shouldn’t be here. But he is, and he is wonderful’, adding that Arthur is a “Christmas miracle,” according to reporter Alexandra Thompson.
Thompson described Arthur as a “double miracle baby.” Both his parents have fertility problems due to serious medical problems. Hillary, 30, has endometriosis and fiancé James Brumby, 31, has Crohn’s disease.
His birth was a harrowing experience for the entire family. Thompson told her readers how three days after being told the pregnancy was progressing well, Ms. Hillary went into labor. At the hospital she was given an emergency cervical stitch to prevent the cervix opening and went home even though she was bleeding.
On October 27—when she was 23 weeks and one day pregnant—her water broke. Hillary told Thompson, “We went into absolute panic mode. We rang the hospital and they said to come in straight away.”
At Nottingham City Hospital, Ms. Hillary and Mr. Brumby were told the devastating news that their baby was unlikely to survive.
After three days of bed rest and just 34 minutes of active labour, Arthur was born naturally.
Ms. Hillary said: ‘He was clearly fighting to be there. The doctors were trying to put tubes in him and he was fighting them off. It was amazing to see.’
Rushed to a neonatal intensive care unit, Arthur underwent sodium and blood transfusions.
Ms. Hillary said: ‘He’d initially been wrapped in a plastic freezer bag to replicate the womb, but he was by this point in an incubator. He had wires coming in and out of him and was tiny.
‘His skin was scaly because he was so premature. But he was wonderful.’
Arthur has endured more than his fair share of problems: two brain bleeds and suffered a life-threatening E.coli infection. But “Arthur is expected to be home in March and will celebrate Christmas Day in hospital with his family,” Thompson wrote.