“And though she be but little, she is fierce”

Madeleine Rose Butler-Cussons was born on 3 November 2013 at the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge, weighing just two pounds and seven and a half ounces. Madeleine’s due date was the 25 January, but she gave her mummy and daddy a big surprise by arriving at just 28 weeks –12 weeks premature!

Kelly’s waters had broken on the 31 October overnight, but she went to work as usual. It was her boss who convinced her on the Friday that she needed to see the nurse so an appointment was made with the midwife for that afternoon. I rushed from my job in Holbeach to be with Kelly, a frightening time, and the medical staff advised that Kelly needed to stay in for observations. I returned to work and then went home to fetch some belongings to bring to the hospital. It was only when I got back to Pilgrim in the evening, that I found out Kelly was being transferred to a specialist hospital.

Kelly and I made the long trip from Skegness, Lincolnshire via the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston to the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge where Madeleine was born via a caesarian.

We were thrilled to finally meet our little girl but she was immediately taken into the neonatal intensive care unit for treatment. Madeleine was in respiratory distress, so doctors put her on a ventilator to help her breathe and turned on special phototherapy lamps to help cure her jaundice. With the doctors’ help, Madeline’s breathing improved and by day two, she was able to have her ventilation tube removed and was allowed to breathe through a bubble CPAP machine, which is non-invasive ventilation, where they use continuous positive airway pressure to deliver oxygen into the lungs. It requires specialist staff to work closely together continually monitoring the baby’s condition so we knew we were in the best place possible, surrounded by experts. 

Kelly was discharged once her incision had started to heal and it was at this point we made the move to Chestnut House, which would be our new home until Madeleine was well enough to be moved to a hospital nearer our home in Skegness. Chestnut House was just a lift ride away from the intensive care unit, which meant we could have our first cuddles together down on the ward and pop back to the house whenever we wanted.

After sleeping on a rather uncomfortable chair for two nights, having a room at Chestnut House brought such a relief to Kelly and I as we finally had a proper base to stay in and we could finally start to relax a little, getting the rest we needed. We stayed in Chestnut House for four days, and the support from the staff, but more importantly the other families who were also staying in the house was invaluable. Being able to talk to other families made us realise that we weren’t alone and that other people were experiencing similar ordeals to us.

We’d left home in a hurry, so I travelled back to Skegness to gather some belongings and fresh clothes, leaving Kelly to stay with Madeleine and her Auntie Sarah who had stopped by to visit for the first time.

The following day, we had some good news as doctors were happy enough with Madeleine’s progress to move her to a hospital slightly nearer to home. She was moved by a special team from the Rosie Hospital to Peterborough City Hospital where we were both waiting for her; thrilled that she was out of the intensive care unit.

Madeleine was able to celebrate her one week birthday with her nanny and grandad as doctors talked about moving her again to Lincoln Hospital, which was great news as it was even closer to our home and meant we could stay close by with her Auntie Sarah.

At five weeks old, Madeleine made her final move from Lincoln to our local Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, back to where our journey had begun. She spent a further three weeks in hospital before we got our very own Christmas miracle; she was discharged at 1pm on Christmas Eve, ready for our very first Christmas as a family.  

Madeleine is now a picture of health and is blossoming every day. She has now found her voice, and is very vocal about things, continuing to defy the odds by constantly improving and battling away. The Shakespearean quote “And though she be but little, she is fierce” is certainly true of our Madeleine-Rose, our true miracle.

Jonathan Cussons, Madeleine's dad