To save baby Edward Ives's life, Dr. Nicola Robertson who works in the neonatal unit at the University College London Hospital, froze him.
The problem began when Claire Ives was seven-months pregnant with Edward and used a handheld device to listen to her unborn son's heartbeat.
As she turned the machine on, she thought something had malfunctioned, reported Yahoo.
"I thought I wasn't listening right or something," Ives, a nurse in London, told ABCNews.com. "I didn't believe his [heart] rate could be that fast."
What pushed Ives into an emotional tailspin was that the handheld device was showing that her son had a heartbeat of "about 300 beats per minute, nearly double the normal 160," according to Yahoo.
After being rushed to the hospital for an emergency cesarean at the University College London Hospital, doctors diagnosed baby Edward with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), reported Yahoo.
SVT is caused by improper electrical impulses in the heart that leads to an irregular rapid heartbeat heart, which then can lead to heart failure or affect internal organs. When the heart beats too quickly, it can't fill up properly and then distribute blood to vital organs correctly, according to Yahoo.
"I just thought he was going to die," said Ives to ABC.
Upon knowing the diagnosis doctor immediately began the process of trying to slow down Edward's heart, but nothing seemed to work.
"Doctors attempted to reset his heart rate by shocking his heart and giving him different medications, but when that failed they were left without many options except one they had never tried for SVT: They would lower Edward's body temperature to protect his vital organs and slow his heart rate," Yahoo stated.
What this meant was Edward would be frozen.
"We'd gone through all the usual maneuvers that usually work in babies, giving drugs ... trying to shock the heart, the baby and get [a healthy heart rate back]," said Dr. Robertson, according to Yahoo.
Over the span of more than a few hours, "the cold gel blanket to lower Edward's body temperature to approximately 91 degrees, which both protected his organs and slowed the electrical circuit in his heart. Unfortunately, over the next day, as Edward was warmed up, his heart began to race again. So the team again cooled his body temperature, three days after they had initially lowered it," reported Yahoo.
"That was one of the worst nights," recalled Ives. "I asked one of the nurses if he was going to die and she said he might," according to ABC.
However, baby Edward, despite the five percent chance he was given, survived, and 10 days later mother Ives was able to take her child home.
Now a healthy six-month old, Edward has an excellent prognosis and is unlikely to need further hospitalizations for SVT although he is being closely monitored to see if the irregular heartbeat returns, reported Yahoo.
"It's made me appreciate all the small things about my children," said Claire Ives, who is planning to run a half-marathon to raise awareness about neonatal SVT. "It's the best thing ever to bring him home," according to ABC.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
