March 2011
Clemmie was born 3 weeks early while my husband was serving with the British Army in Afghanistan. Up to that point, I’d had a normal pregnancy with no adverse scans or distinctive illness.
Clemmie was delivered by c-section due to a transverse lie and was not initially in any distress.
At birth her heart & lungs failed; she had CPR for 4 minutes and didn’t breath unaided for 15 minutes. She had an enlarged liver, petechial rash and was fitting.
It took 5 hours to stabilise her.
My husband spent 36 hours travelling back from Afghanistan (he was allowed home because of her fragile condition).
He arrived back on his birthday and had the best present ever because he was the first one to hold her when she came off the ventilator.
Due to CMV, Clemmie now has mild hearing loss in one ear.
She also has speech delay and very hyper-extensive muscles. We are unsure if these are related to her birth, CMV or just the way she’s meant to be.
Clemmie was treated with the anti-viral treatment called Valganciclovir.
We opted to take part in a clinical trial CASG112 to determine the effect of extended use of Valganciclovir. Clemmie was given 6 weeks of drug and then 6 months of placebo.
It’s not the best photo; Al’s exhausted and if you could have smelt him you would’ve gagged but for us it represents Clemmie’s birth and our good luck at having her in our lives.
Clemmie continues to thrive and develop well, she keeps us all on our toes, including her older brother, Paddy.
We are in no doubt that medical intervention saved Clemmie’s life but her recovery was purely down to her tenacious nature, a trait I’m sure she shares with most cCMV babies.