By Dave Andrusko
Last May when she was 25 weeks pregnant, Charley Moran from Burnley, Lancashire, England, was rushed to Burnley General Hospital. She had contracted sepsis from a kidney infection, according to the Daily Mail, and the mother of five “was put into a medically-induced coma,” reported Siofra Brennan.
Three days later she awoke to find that she had delivered a son, Timothy, but, tragically, that he had not survived.
But because of what is known as a “cuddle cot,” the family was able to spend precious time with Timothy. A cuddle cot is a cooling device that “preserves a stillborn baby’s body in a bassinet or crib so that he or she can remain up to five days in a hospital room, extending the time a family has to photograph the infant, sing to it, take its measurements or show it to loved ones.”
And that’s what the family was able to do, Brennan reported.
The 31-year-old then spent five days making memories with her son who weighed just 1.8lbs – -less than a bag of sugar. …
Charley and shop assistant partner Chris Stott, 36, got to spend five days cuddling, talking to and taking pictures of little Timothy who stayed in a cuddle cot next to Charley’s bed in Burnley General Hospital.
Charley said: ‘I stayed with him until the Thursday, then I had to let him go because the cuddle cot could no longer preserve him.
‘In those final days I was able to cuddle him, talk to him, kiss him, sing to him and change him.
‘I told him about the things I wished I could have done for him and that he could have done with his brothers and sisters.’
Charley describes Timothy as her “little guardian angel,” whom, she believes, “sacrificed himself so she could get well and care for his brothers and sisters.”
‘I gave birth to him while I was in a coma and I didn’t remember any of it. I didn’t remember birthing my son.
‘They told me I had stage four septic shock and my body had started shutting down but once I’d delivered him I started to recover.
‘Everyone told me to look at it like he’d been released to help me because I was needed back at home to look after his brothers and sisters.
‘He gave up his fight so I could win mine and come back to them.
Charley only discovered she was pregnant three weeks before she delivered her son. During that first prenatal visit, she was told she had a urine infection.
Brennan explained that Charley had contracted sepsis nine months, so when she felt a pain her back, she went to the hospital.
“Things took a turn for the worse the following day after the infection got into her blood-stream and her body started to shut down,” Brennan reported. Charley said
‘I was diagnosed with stage four sepsis shock and they put me into a medically induced coma.
‘Between them taking me into theatre and putting my in a coma I just remember saying ‘what about the baby?’
‘I agreed to them putting me into a coma because I wanted to fight the infection and save my baby. I thought ‘if I can’t fight it how can this tiny baby?’
Charley said, “I would have done anything for that tiny little boy.”