A COUPLE from Hatherleigh whose baby was born 14 weeks early are finally looking forward to normal family life, after spending months travelling to and from hospital.

Jade Sefton and her parter Simon Alford were overjoyed when they received news they were expecting a baby last May.

Jade, who has lived in Hatherleigh for the last two years, said the first 24 weeks of her pregnancy were like any other.

She said: 'I had very little morning sickness, but after 24 weeks I started to have hospital visits due to being in pain in my stomach.

'I was told I had a urine infection, but the pain got worse and more regular.

'I went to work as usual, but it carried on overnight and the next day I suffered a large blood loss.

'I called Simon at work and we were rushed to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital where I was told I was in labour.'

Jade and Simon were informed their baby had just a 40% chance of survival.

After 52 hours of a painful and emotional labour Ethan Ross Alford was born at only 26 weeks, weighing a tiny 606 grams (1.5lbs). It took two doctors and two neonatal nurses to stabilise him.

Jade said: 'After letting us have a ten second glance, they took him away to the neonatal unit to ventilate him as he was too young to breath for himself.

'An hour or so later Simon and I were taken over to visit him, it was so scary to see him lying helpless in an incubator.

'He was so tiny, feeble, red and shiny and I burst into tears.

'I felt so proud to be a mother, but so sad that my baby had come early and I was scared of what would happen next.'

Over the next few weeks Ethan was given drugs to help his lungs grow.

He was then taken off his ventilator and put on a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP), where he stayed for a few weeks.

Ethan was moved out of intensive care and into a high dependancy unit and the family spent Christmas in hospital.

But in January, Ethan took a turn for the worse when he developed a serious a condition called Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC).

He was rushed back into intensive care.

Jade said: 'It felt like the longest ten days of our lives waiting for our son to get better. 

'When he finished his antibiotics he was slowly allowed milk again and within two weeks he was back on full feeds and doing really well.

'But then he got poorly again and they rushed him to Bristol Royal Hospital for a surgical consultation.'

The next few weeks proved an emotional rollercoaster for Jade and Simon. Little Ethan underwent a major operation to treat a narrowing of his intestines.

After weeks of recuperation in Bristol and Exeter, he was able to go home — only to face more problems and a further operation on a hernia.

'We were devastated, we had only just got home,' said Jade.

Jade said: 'When they performed the operation it only lasted an hour and the following day we brought him home.

'It has been a very long, tiring, painful, worrying and emotional four months.

'They have been made a lot easier by the continual support from our families, friends, work colleagues and everyone who works at Exeter and Bristol Neonatal and Children's unit.

'We want to thank everyone — without them we would never have had the courage and strength to make it and be home safe as a family.

'We chose the name Ethan as it means strong willed — Ethan has definitely lived up to his name.'

Later this year Simon Alford is hoping to do a skydive to raise money for Exeter neonatal ward and Bliss, the special care baby charity.