Thornhill couple looking forward to baby's first Christmas after tough start for little Reuben

20.12.2022 - 18:01 / dailyrecord.co.uk

A Thornhill couple are looking forward to celebrating their baby’s first Christmas after a tough start in life for wee Reuben.

Mum Jamie Nichol said she knew instinctively there was something wrong with her tiny son after he was born on March 13.

After demanding tests, he was eventually diagnosed with tracheomalacia – resulting in him stopping breathing and turning blue due to a lack of oxygen.

It was a sleep study carried out at Dumfries Infirmary in August that led to Reuben being diagnosed.

After being rushed to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, Reuben was taken to theatre where a camera was put down his throat in a bid to find out why he stopped breathing in his sleep. It revealed that as well as tracheomalacia, Reuben also had a strawberry birthmark known as an hemangioma, on his throat.

Since then, he has been on oxygen to help with his breathing.

Jamie, 31, said: “It’s been terrifying. We have to keep an eye on him the whole time in case he stops breathing.

“We’re hoping he improves enough to finally get off the oxygen next year and he’s on medication in a bid to shrink the strawberry birthmark.

“We’ll find out within the next few months if he has to have an operation to chop down his windpipe to open it up to help him breathe better.

“As if that wasn’t enough for him to cope with, he also caught RSV which didn’t help.”

Respiratory syncytial virus RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis in infants.

But with Reuben’s breathing difficulties he was at greater risk and the infection could have caused pneumonia or even death.

Thankfully he recovered and Jamie and Reuben’s dad Chris Blaydes, 37, are now looking forward to a peaceful and happy Christmas with their first baby.

Jamie said: “Reuben has been through so