Ella Claxton was delivered after the placenta had ruptured and become detached. Her mother Rachel’s cervix, was only 3cm dilated instead of the normal 10cm.
Doctors worked for 25 minutes to revive her before they detected a heartbeat. But they feared her brain would be damaged because she was starved of oxygen during the birth.
Ella was taken to another hospital for cutting-edge treatment in which her body temperature was lowered to below the level at which hypothermia occurs, to ease the swelling on her brain.
Her mother, who is now campaigning for the technology to be more widely available on the NHS, said: ‘She’s our little miracle and every day she gives us new hope.’
Ella was born nine months ago at Peterborough District Hospital. Yesterday, Ms Claxton said: ‘The midwife was crying, my partner Jason was crying and no one could tell me what was going on.
‘I begged them to tell me what was happening but I already knew she was dead because it had been so long and I still hadn’t heard her cry.
‘Then, after what seemed like an eternity, I heard someone say, “She’s with us”. I couldn’t believe it.’
However, doctors told the couple Ella would need to go to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge to receive the ‘freezing’ treatment.
There, she was wrapped in a cooling blanket to bring her temperature down from a normal 37C to 33.5C.
Her father, Jason Anderson, 33, said: ‘I laid my hand on her head and she was ice-cold to the touch.’
After three days, her temperature was returned to normal; she was allowed home eight days later. Ella still needs physiotherapy but her brain function is normal.
Ms Claxton said: ‘So far, she’s gone from strength to strength.’
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