Emilie O’c

Here is our story about one precious little girl, called Emilie, aged just 10 months old.

Our daughter was born on April 6th with a health condition, which never hindered her. We weren’t sure if she would even survive at birth, but she proved everyone wrong and was fantastic, doing everything a normal baby does.

We were so happy with our little miracle baby!

AT 2 WEEKS OLD

At just two weeks old, Emilie developed a Group B Strep urine infection and the doctors looking after her advised us she was starting to go septic, but they had caught it early and it was treated quickly. (Sepsis and Group B Strep)

She was allowed to go home two weeks later, after IV antibiotics were given to clear up the infection.

Over the next nine months she was brilliant – such a happy, pleasant girl who enjoyed fun times with her family.

SATURDAY – 10 MONTHS OLD

Then the dreaded week came on Saturday 4th February 2017.

Our daughter had been sick with what we thought was just a common cold. Her temperature had been going up and down for the next few days, so we treated her with paracetamol and Nurofen.

Following this medication she perked up and was in good enough form to take her bottles, but she was not eating solids as much.

TUESDAY – GP

On the Tuesday I took her to the GP who said she had a red ear and red throat but felt she had a viral infection and sent us home with no medication and said that if she was no better in the next few days we should bring her back.

WEDNESDAY EVENING – GRUNTING

On Wednesday 8th February her temperature had been up and down all day and at around 10pm she started vomiting.

She’d had a history over the last few months of a cough and vomiting so we weren’t overly concerned, but when we put her to bed at around 11pm she started making grunting noises and her temperature had went up to 38.9.

EARLY HOURS THURSDAY – A&E FIRST TIME

The grunting was new and was extremely loud so we decided to take her to our local A&E in the early hours of the 9th February.

There her temperature went up to 39.3 even after us giving her paracetamol at home. They gave her Nurofen which seemed to reduce the temperature, and they felt that she just had a viral infection. (Sepsis and Viral Infections)

We were sent home at 4am.

EARLY HOURS THURSDAY – A&E SECOND TIME

At 4.45am she started vomiting up brown coloured liquid. With her medical history we were concerned that she may have a bowel obstruction and rushed her back to A&E at 5.15am – just over an hour after we had been discharged!

In A&E we waited a bit. Bloods and x-rays were done around 8am and she was then admitted to the ward where we were informed that another hospital was going to look at the x-ray to see if there was any obstruction, which was then ruled out in the early morning.

She was then treated for constipation. For the rest of the day her heart rate, temperature and respiratory rate were all elevated and Nurofen and paracetamol were administered regularly.

THURSDAY EVENING – BLOODS

At 5pm the hospital labs contacted the ward to say that there was bacteria found in her blood cultures but the doctors felt that given she didn’t seem drastically ill, that this result was a false positive and decided to repeat them later on again. (Sepsis and Bacterial Infections)

At this point she still had no cannula in, so there was nowhere for antibiotics to go anyway.

THURSDAY EVENING – RASH

At around 6.15pm the docs came to get a line into her for the antibiotics. This took nearly one hour to do, and at this stage her observations were all raised.

She was less active and her skin was extremely pale and mottled. The antibiotic was finally started and within five minutes we noticed a purple spot on her shoulder. We informed nursing staff who reassured us it was nothing to worry about, however the rash got worse.

THURSDAY EVENING – CRITICAL

We kept saying something was wrong but we weren’t informed that anything serious was wrong. An hour and a half later a consultant came into the room and informed us they were taking her to another hospital as her body was tired and she was unwell still at this stage.

We weren’t informed how critical our daughter actually was.

At around 9pm they started fluid resuscitation and oxygen therapy and did a blood gas to identify her lactate levels – a test which is prioritised in the Sepsis Six bundle.

An hour later she was taken to theatre to prepare her for transfer her to ICU in another hospital.

However she never made it there. She underwent cardiac arrest on the table and sadly passed away at 11.25pm, just under 24 hours from our first presentation to A&E.

It’s only later from reading her notes that we found out she also had Streptococcus Pneumoniae.

Source: Margaret O'c