Olly Douglas Bennett

Olly Douglas Bennett was born at 1:48am on the 21st May 2007 weighing 5lb14oz and looking gorgeous.

On the 20th May 2007 I went into hospital to be induced at 40+9weeks. After a rather eventful birth
my gorgeous little boy arrived and brightened up my life. We couldnt believe it when the midwife
said he was only 5lb14oz!!!! I had been convinced all through the pregnancy that Olly would be
roughly 9lb yet here he was absolutely tiny and gorgeous.

When we got up to the maternity ward after the birth i remember thinking something wasnt right.
About an hour later the midwife took us down to the NICU because Olly wasnt regulating his body
temperature properly and was getting cold. He was also finding it quite hard to breathe.

Once we got to the NICU the paediatricians hooked him up to a few monitors and gave him a big orange
box that sat over his head and pumped oxygen into it so he was breathing a slightly higher
concentration of oxygen to help him out. His breathing settled quite well with that and they were
fairly happy with it.

Olly had been uninterested in feeding and hadnt eaten at all yet so his blood sugars had dropped. He
showed no interest in feeding at all really so they put him on a dextrose drip to keep his blood
sugars up and i had to express what milk i had for them to give him via an NGT (nasogastric
tube/tube directly to the stomach down his nose). He was started on 1ml of milk every 2hrs and
tolerated that fairly well but with a few ups and downs to start with.

They also put him on i.v.anitibiotics in case of infection and did a chest xray to check his lungs
and chest. His lungs came back clear but they did see in the xray that Olly had fractured his
collarbone on both sides. They told me this was not a problem and should heal up in about 2weeks. He
was given paracetamol for any pain (also for any pain caused by the kiwi lump).

Well Olly stayed on the NICU and I stayed up in the maternity ward. He did really well and soon came
off the oxygen although was still in an incubator and had to have a few days on phototherapy for
jaundice levels.

It had been mentioned to us that a few of Olly's features suggested he may have a chromosomal
abnormality and when he was a week old we got terrible news that our darling little boy was actually
very ill.

Olly had a Double Trisomy. The cells in his body had either an extra copy of Chromosome 9 or
Chromosome 18. They had never seem a Double Trisomy before and were surprised how my little boy had
survived to be born. A genetecist explained that of the two Trisomies that Olly had one would, in
its full form, have killed him before birth and the other would more than likely be fatal within a
year.

Olly also had multiple Ventricular Septal Defects (holes in his heart) and as he grew older his
heart began to fail.

It was a month before Olly came home with us still tube fed and tiny.

He lit up my life and the lives of everyone who met him during his short time with us. He fought so
hard to be with us in the first place and not once did he seem to give up. Olly was truly a miracle
and he amazed everyone by fighting so hard for five and a half months before it became too much and
he left to be with the angels.

All i hope is that my darling sweetheart is now in no pain and can rest as he deserves to after
fighting so much. So much more than any person should have to.

Olly i miss you dearly my baby. You were everything to me and I will never stop thinking of you
everyday. Time may mean I have to get on with things but it will never heal the pain of losing you.
All my love now and forever Mummy xxx