'We didn't think our newborn was going to pull through - we lived hour-by-hour'

A family said they had to live 'hour-by-hour' and feared their newborn son 'wasn't going to pull through' after midwives couldn't find his heartbeat.

Sally Turner said she had a relatively straightforward pregnancy with her son Frankie, the Liverpool Echo reports. The 33-year-old hairdresser, from Birkenhead, said there were a few concerns such as gestational diabetes and her bump measuring bigger than normal, but that all tests and scans came back 'fine'.

But after a 'very quick' labour in July this year, midwives couldn't find Frankie's heartbeat. The tiny newborn had to be resuscitated by medics due to the lack of oxygen with Sally and his dad Dave McPherson fearing that he wouldn't survive.

READ NEXT: Detective, 31, dropped her two kids off at school and went back home... she was never seen alive again

Sally said: "The first 72 hours were very scary, they resuscitated him for a long time we didn't think he was going to pull through. We were just living hour to hour hoping that each time we went into NICU they had some better news for us."

Frankie was diagnosed with grade 2 hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). This meant he had to go on a cooling pad for three days, to help reduce the risk of brain injury.

Sally said: "We didn't know how long he would be in there for or what was going to happen when he came off the cooling pad as he had already had one seizure, and we also had an MRI scan booked in which felt daunting."

Describing the labour, Sally added: "It was around three and a half hours from the first contraction to our son, Frankie being born. I did have bleeding on arrival at the hospital, but they tested it and didn't seem concerned."

The family, who also have a four-year-old daughter, moved into Arrowe