SWNS
A baby given just a 10 percent chance of survival at birth - and whose hand was the size of a wedding ring - is now thriving. Reggie Sturgess, now two, weighed just two pounds and one ounce when he was born via emergency C-section after 26 weeks. The newborn was as long as mum Kate Sturgess' arm - and his hand was smaller than her wedding ring. Little Reggie had to be resuscitated three times after birth and had sepsis. But, against the odds, he survived - and is now thriving. Mum-of-six Kate, 37, said: "He's the most incredible little boy. "It's just amazing to see him doing all the things we always hoped he'd do. "All the other five [children] were full-term normal deliveries. "Having such a tiny baby was a whole different ball game. It's beyond everything you imagine it would be. "He was like a bird just emerged from its egg, and his skin was see-through so all his little bones were visible." Kate - who was previously told she couldn't have children - found out she was pregnant with Reggie in May 2020. The pregnancy appeared normal, and the expectant parents had a gender reveal in October. But Kate, from Southampton, noticed unusual pains while she watched Mamma Mia on TV on November 27. Worried, she and husband Matt, 35, an engineer, left for hospital at 6:30pm. But within ten minutes she was needing to push. They phoned ahead and a huge team of medics met them on arrival at 6:50pm, she says. Kate was then put under for her operation - while doctors struggled to find her baby's heartbeat. She woke in recovery two hours later to learn her baby was in intensive care, and, because of Covid restrictions, Matt had to wait outside. Kate first met Reggie through a hole in his incubator at around midnight. He was on antibiotics for sepsis and nurses told her to take it hour by hour. She said: "I was so frightened to see him, because I loved him so much but was so scared of losing him. "They said his chances of survival were less than ten per cent. "I was in shock and petrified - nothing prepares you for how vulnerable they are. "In a few hours I'd gone from watching TV to having a critically ill baby on life support." Medics told her Reggie got sepsis in the womb, which may have caused her to go into labour early. He spent seven weeks in an incubator before being moved to a different cot. At six weeks his lungs collapsed and he suffered multiple infections over the weeks. Kate pumped her breast milk and Reggie was tube fed for nine weeks. After laser eye surgery for detaching retinas in both eyes he went home finally on his due date - March 3, 2021. Reggie is on oxygen all the time at the moment. But that hasn't stopped him growing into a happy child. His family take the tank to the park so he can play with his siblings: Victoria, 13, Violet, 3, Charlie, 10, William, eight, and Henry, six. He's even due to start pre-school next month. Kate and Matt raised £45,000 in November 2021, and another £15,000 in October 2022 for the neonatal unit at Princess Anne Hospital, where Reggie was cared for. They're running a third fundraising event at a hotel in Southampton on October 14: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-reggie-give-back-finale-2023?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1 Kate said: "Everything is struggling for money at the moment, but it breaks my heart how under funded neonatal care is. "There aren't many two-year-olds who have raised £63,000, and I hope we can raise a lot more. "We're just very very lucky we got to bring our baby home, and he's leading a happy full life."
