There is nothing more exciting for a young couple than to welcome their baby into the world. Vickie Thompson and her fiance Alex were both overjoyed at welcoming their son Charlie into the world.
But what happened unfolded next was a nightmare for everyone. Keep reading to know exactly what happened…
When little Charlie was born, his parents were over the moon to have a healthy little boy. But soon, things turned a little complicated…
The family was still in the hospital, and it was a few hours after Charlie had been born. Vickie began to realize that something might be wrong with her newborn baby.
Vickie realized her little boy had not pooped yet and that his pee was a strange green color. She found it weird but did not realize that it would be as serious as it became.
When doctors became aware of this, they examined little Charlie and found out he had Analatresia. In cases of analatresia, the anal opening is either malpositioned or missing and the condition affects 1 in 5,000 babies. Little Charlie was born without an anal opening.
Doctors shifted Charlie to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and removed the contents of his stomach manually to ensure no toxins remained in his system to harm him.
“I was absolutely petrified… I thought he was dying,” the 36-year-old mother told the media.
“The doctors said, ‘We don’t think he has an opening.’ I was so scared,” she recalled.
The next day, the little boy was transferred from Worthington Hospital to Brighton Hospital to receive a stoma. He was placed under more specialist care.
The baby spent three days in the NICU after his major surgery, two of which he was unconscious. His mother Vickie, was understandably terrified. She said, “I was terrified that I would lose him. They had to put him on a ventilator and I kept thinking he was going to die. I kept thinking the worst.”
Since Charlie soon after Charlie was born he had undergone six life-saving operations. When he was finally able to go home, the next challenge for his mother began. She had to deal with the stoma.
“Being a first-time mum is an experience anyway, so having the stoma as well was hard. It was very, very stressful, and at times felt quite lonely because people were scared to deal with the stoma, so I had to do it all,” Vickie recalled.
“Friends and family were scared to change his stoma in case they did it wrong and caused an infection. They couldn’t handle the risk. It has certainly been tough going,” she went on.
“Charlie became very poorly and couldn’t eat for 11 days. He was very vulnerable and malnourished,” the new mother added.
“The liquid coming out of the ileostomy was six times the amount that was going into his body, so he was on fluid drips with vitamins,” she lamented.
Following this, the baby underwent four more major surgeries, one of which involved surgeons removing a large part of his bowels, which had died. Doctors are still unsure if Charlie will ever be able to potty train and might have to live with a stoma for the rest of his life.
Despite all the struggles he has seen in the beginning of his life, Vickie says he is “such a happy baby.”
And now Vickie is warning other parents to heed her example and check on their children. “The key thing [for me] is spreading awareness and teaching mothers how to check their babies,” she said.
If you found this story interesting, check out the one below about a baby born with a birth defect and how different they looked years later.
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We wish little Charlie and his parents all the luck in the world. This is such a tough circumstance to deal with, and to know such a young baby has to go through so much is heartbreaking. We send them our best!
Share little Charlie’s story to spread awareness!
