Baby Noah is Sarah's unexpected Christmas present
He was supposed to arrive on January 13. Christmas would be over, New Year done and dusted and everything would be back to normal. But little Noah Thorpe had other ideas.
At 36 weeks and weighing 6lbs 13oz, he came into the world on December 16.
Mother Sarah was still at work, father Jason had yet to get the pram and the spare room was waiting to be transformed into a nursery.
The busy couple hadn't even had chance to put up their Christmas decorations, let alone consider names for their new arrival.
"I was still at work on the Friday," says 36-year-old Sarah, who is the community senior sister at New Cross Hospital's neo-natal unit.
"I said to the other nurses 'these Braxton Hicks are painful aren't they?' and they were like 'you just wait until the real thing starts'. Turns out it was the real thing.
"I went back home and my waters broke when I was in bed over the weekend. I called up work and they said 'you better come in'."
Sarah, who has worked on the neo-natal unit since 1999, had a difficult, stop-start birth.
She was eventually induced at 11am on December 16 and Noah Lee Thorpe was born at 6pm. "He was fine at first," says Sarah, who's been with RAC worker Jason for 11 years. "But then when we came back to my bed, I noticed he was breathing strange. I thought I was being paranoid at first because obviously I have all this knowledge of things that can go wrong so I asked for a second opinion."
It turns out that baby Noah was suffering from dusky episodes, meaning he was struggling to breathe and turning blue, and also had a little water in his lungs and too much carbon dioxide in his blood.
He was rushed to the neo-natal unit and had to be given oxygen via a tube in his nose. He stayed on ventilators in the unit for three days before being allowed back to his parents.
"I've spoken to so many parents over the years but now I've been through it, I see it all through different eyes," says Sarah. "I'm in complete awe of the parents who have to deal with things more serious than we did. Luckily, Noah's fine now."
The couple were able to take the newborn back to their home off Deans Road on Friday night.
"He was the most unexpected present," adds Sarah. "But the best one we could ever ask for. Plus, I've got a really good excuse for not making Christmas dinner now, it'll be mum's turn now."
