A MOTHER has told how her baby fought for his life in hospital despite being born a healthy weight and on time.

Blackburn mum Rebecca Crompton’s son Jake was born at 41 weeks weighing 8lbs 4oz.

But when Jake was born at Blackburn Birth Centre, he was blue and not breathing so had to be resuscitated.

He was then rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre at Burnley General Hospital where he was stabilised.

Mrs Crompton, who had to have an episiotomy to get Jake out quickly, described it as ‘horrendous’ when Jake didn’t cry at birth.

Mrs Crompton, a primary school teacher in Accrington, who also has daughters Alexia, eight, and Isabella, four, said: “I was progressing (at Blackburn Birth Centre) but then I got to six or seven centimetres dilated and just could not get Jake to move.

“I got out of the birthing pool and they tried me in all sorts of different positions and then they realised the baby’s heart rate had dropped.”

“Jake didn’t cry when he was born and I kept saying: ‘Why isn’t he crying?’ “After being used to hearing a baby cry at birth, it was horrendous.

“I had to be stitched up and have my blood pressure brought down so it was five hours before I got to Burnley to see Jake.”

After arriving at NICU, doctors explained to Mrs Crompton what was happening to Jake.

They had cooled Jake down straight away to prevent further damage or swelling to the brain as he had been starved of oxygen.

Mrs Crompton said they could not hold Jake for three days as he was on a cooling mat and medication as doctors thought he was having seizures.

“We finally got to hold Jake on day four and he immediately started rooting for a feed so I fed him,” said Mrs Crompton.

However, things took a turn for the worse when Jake developed a severe gut infection.

He was very ill and was on high doses of antibiotics and nil by mouth for eight days.

In total, Jake spent 27 days in hospital and was able to go home with his family in October 2016. He is now one and is doing brilliantly and hitting all his milestones.

Mrs Crompton said she was grateful to all the staff at NICU for the way they cared for Jake and the whole family.

She wants to raise awareness that it’s not just tiny, premature babies that are born poorly.

She said: “The NICU staff were really open with visiting and we could take the girls in and they were fine to be around Jake’s ventilator.A lot of people think that with full-term babies everything is going to be fine, but that is not always the case.”

“But Jake was actually a lot more poorly than some of the tinier babies.”

“Jake is now a little star and he is walking, running, climbing up steps and shouting after his sisters.”