When your doctor tells you to avoid stress during your pregnancy, you had better listen to them – this is the message of Welsh mum Leanne Richards.
Leanne – a paediatric nurse – reckons she was so severely stressed at work, that it brought on the premature birth of her daughter, Katy.
While Katy is now nine years old, Leanne has chosen to share her story with Wales Online now, as part of a fundraising campaign for the University Hospital of Wales.
Leanne had just come off a particularly stressful shift at the hospital where she worked, when she went into labour – just 25 weeks into her pregnancy.
Despite medics’ best efforts to stop the labour, baby Katy entered the world three hours later, tipping the scales at 1.7lbs.
The odds were stacked against Katy from the start; not only was she suffering brain bleeds but she also had a hole in her heart, and went on to fend off infections and sepsis.
At one point, Leanne and husband Mark were told that their little one wouldn’t make it – but she held on and fought until, three months later, she was discharged from hospital.
Although deaf after her dramatic entrance into the world, Katy is now a happy, thriving little girl.
“I had no idea how such a tiny fragile thing could endure so much, but she just kept on going,” gushed mum Leanne.
Paying tribute to the medical team who treated Katy, she added: “I’ll never forget the doctors and nurses who played a part in our journey with Katy. They sit with you through the bad times and celebrate with you through the good, and their support was what kept our heads above water.”
