Mother saves her premature baby son with kiss of life after he stops breathing in intensive care

Mother saves her premature baby son with kiss of life after he stops breathing in intensive care

• Pippa Reed pumped air into lungs of son Jacob after he was born 12 weeks premature on February 29

By Claire Bates

PUBLISHED: 10:39 EST, 24 May 2012 | UPDATED: 12:55 EST, 24 May 2012

A mother has told how she gave her premature baby the kiss of life when he stopped breathing in an intensive care unit.

Pippa Reed, pumped air into the lungs of 12-week-old Jacob after he stopped breathing while under sedation.

'Within 15 or 20 minutes of him being sedated he almost stopped breathing and his lips went blue,' the 25-year-old said.

Pippa Reed feeds her son Jacob in hospital. He was born 12 weeks early

'I gave him the kiss of life. It was an immediate reaction. My little boy needed help and I had air in my lungs and just gave it to him.

'I knew what I had to do and I did it. If I had not it would probably have been worse.'

Mrs Reed, a former St John Ambulance member, sprang to assist Jacob when he got into trouble after being prepared for an MRI scan intended to check his brain function at Queens Hospital in Burton, Staffordshire.

Nurses rushed to prepare emergency care and alerted the crash team before one gave the newborn oxygen.

Jacob eventually returned to the children's ward after being stabilised but has since been plagued by falling oxygen levels and poor breathing.

Jacob, pictured, stopped breathing after he was sedated in hospital for an MRI scan

He is now receiving antibiotics for a slight chest infection and is being closely monitored in an oxygen-filled incubator in the neonatal ward.

'I'm heartbroken it's happened but with time he will get better, I know he will,' said Mrs Reed from Stretton, Staffordshire.

'It's just a mother's intuition. I can't put my finger on it.'

Jacob has continually defied the odds since he was born on February 29 at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. He was 12 weeks early and weighed just 2lb 10.5oz and was given a lowly three per cent chance of survival.

Keeping watch: Pippa trained with St John Ambulance so was able to spring into action when Jacob's lips turned blue

But Jacob has clung to life, amazing those around him by defying a seemingly endless series of life-threatening health problems.

'That such a little person can go through all this and still fight on is incredible,' said Mrs Reed, who has learned to cope with adversity on an almost a daily basis.

'It's very hard, but this is how my life is at the moment.'

Jacob was then transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital before being moved to Burton’s Queen’s Hospital on April 12. He now weighs 5lb 9oz and has an umbilical hernia that will need to be treated. He also has liver problems .

Mrs Reed has had to cope with this week's trauma on her own because her husband, Tim, 32, has been suffering a cold, an infection which prevents him from seeing his son.

'Even more has been on me,' said Mrs Reed, 'but as long as my men get better that’s all that matters.'

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