EP35 Jo | Fast Labour, Heart Defect, NICU Baby, Necrotising Enterocolitis (NECS), Surgery

The Real Birth Podcast

Hello and welcome back to The Real Birth Podcast! This week I chat to Jo, whose daughter was diagnosed with a heart defect at her 20 week scan. This meant she needed surgery very soon after birth, and so Jo and her husband were preparing for an induction in Bristol, where a team of paediatric experts would be on hand.

However, Jo's waters broke early and what followed was an incredibly stressful journey to hospital during a bank holiday weekend, where they encountered several major road collisions and more than quadrupled their estimated journey time, all without pain relief. When she arrived at hospital, Jo was fully dilated and her baby was born soon afterwards.

Whilst in NICU waiting for surgery, baby Malia was also diagnosed with NEC, a serious bowel disease. Jo shares how the support of other NICU parents and people who had children with heart defects was invaluable to her - but is also very honest about her ongoing trauma from those weeks and months in and out of hospital with her little girl.

Malia is now a very happy and healthy little girl - and it's wonderful to hear Jo talk about her. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did.

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