A FIRST-TIME mother's prayers have been answered after her premature baby son battled back from the brink of death – twice.
Nadine Osbourne, 31, from West Bridgford, has been struggling for a baby for years.
In 2008 she had a miscarriage at 19 weeks – and still had to endure labour.
When she conceived for the second time last August, she was determined to carry her child for longer than 19 weeks. And she did – but only just.
At 23 weeks and five days – dangerously premature – her son King-Safari Tiger Earl Hutchinson, known as Safari, arrived on Monday, December 17.
"The doctors said they couldn't guarantee his survival because he was so premature," said Nadine, who used to work in public relations.
But problems were only beginning for Nadine and Aubin Hutchinson, her partner of two years.
The drama eventually included a five-month stint in hospital, and saw doctors crack Safari's ribs while desperately carrying out CPR in a last-ditch effort to revive him. Within days of his birth doctors realised that Safari needed a life-saving operation to close a valve near his heart that allows blood to flow around the body.
This valve had not closed naturally and Safari was taken to the Glenfield Hospital in Leicestershire for the high-risk operation, which left his blood pressure severely low.
"I can remember praying for him that night. We were told this could be the end. I was in bits, but amazingly he came through.
"This was the first time I thought we really were going to lose him, and when he came through that I knew I needed to be strong for him," said Nadine.
But just days after his recovery, his ventilation tube became dislodged from his throat. Doctors and nurses crowded round his bedside to install a new one, but for ten minutes they couldn't get it to fit. All the while, Safari was not breathing.
"That was the scariest incident of all. Even the nurse said to me afterwards 'we almost lost him then'.
"He really is my miracle baby. I'm so grateful to all the doctors and nurses who were there and helped me."
Nadine said she chose her baby's unusual name because she felt as though she had been on a journey into motherhood.
She said: "I liked the name Safari because it means journey and that's exactly what I feel I've been on, and he has been through a lot and survived. That's why we picked Tiger because its the most powerful of the cats. My partner chose King."
Her mother Beverley Osbourne said: "She's been through the mill, and they've come out the other side smiling. It's a miracle."
Between 2009 and 2011 there was a 20 per cent increase in the number of babies born prematurely at the QMC and City Hospital. In 2009 there were 530 and this increased to 636 premature births by 2011.
However, more of them are being saved because of better equipment and other advances. Since 2006 the city's hospitals have cut the fatality rate by a massive 35 per cent. There were 93 deaths in 2006, 62 in 2009 and only 40 in 2011.
The Neonatal Survey for 2011, comparing the East Midlands and Yorkshire, found the city's hospitals the best for saving premature babies' lives.
Dr Stephen Wardle said: "We are doing something right. We are one of the biggest trusts in the region but statistically premature babies are more likely to survive here in Nottingham than any other hospital in the region."
