Luckily the signs weren’t ignored and he was diagnosed before she even left hospital following his birth. Rebecca tells his story:
“Our baby boy Leo was born on 14 November 2018. Shortly after birth they noticed rapid breathing and due to my high temperature during labour put him on antibiotics."
“At first they thought he might have had a chest infection as his infection levels in his blood weren’t that high and told us we would have a 3 day stay in hospital. However these numbers got higher so they performed a lumbar puncture when he was 1 day old. This then confirmed bacterial meningitis and we were devastated."
“His antibiotics were tweaked to be able to treat this for 14 days. Luckily he stayed in a room with me for the whole duration as the only symptom he showed was fast breathing and a little jaundice."
“Leo had to have antibiotics twice a day and this was upped to three times once he was one week old. After a few days his infection level dropped and was soon below 10, which was what the doctors were aiming for. The consultant performed a brain scan and could see no damage."
“On 29 November we were allowed to go home. I still to this day cannot believe how lucky we are to have Leo and how much of a strong little boy he is. He has had a hearing test since leaving hospital and thankfully this hasn’t been affected in any way."
“He has a follow up appointment with a consultant soon to see how he is developing. We are really hoping that he has no long term after-effects and that he can lead a happy healthy life. So far things are great and he is a happy, gorgeous little boy!”
