Katherine mum’s instincts and decision to stay sweaty saved baby Dusty from sepsis death
Tayla Beaumont’s gut instincts and Katherine Hospital staff’s quick action saved three-month-old Dusty who was 30 minutes away from death. Read the details.
Three months ago on a “normal Monday”, Tayla Beaumont had no idea her decision not to shower after a sweaty run one night might just save her youngest’s life.
When her usually “happy” 12-week-old baby Dusty started to refuse to feed and his temperature began to soar, she had no idea what sepsis was.
She just remembers something urging her to go straight to hospital.
“I said something just doesn’t feel right,” she said. “He seems off.
“I hadn’t even had a shower yet, I was still in my gym clothes and I hadn’t had dinner.
“My hubby told me to have a shower and then go in and I said ‘Nah don’t worry about it I’ll go right now’.”
Within three hours on September 22, Dusty had gone from his usual happy self to refusing to wake up, not feeding and beginning to pant and groan as if in pain.
After his temperature rose to 38.6C, Tayla and his husband Luke decided she should visit Katherine Hospital.
Tayla arrived at triage feeling silly but reported his symptoms to the staff who took his stats and quickly organised a bed and ushered Tayla who was holding Dusty through to triage one.
“At the time I was like triage one, that’s good of them putting Dusty in the important area,” Tayla said.
“And then the doctor just looked at me and said: ‘Can you put the baby up on the bed?’
“I asked what was happening and then they just stopped talking to me.”
Tayla was told if she had waited another half an hour, Dusty would not have made it
As Tayla watched, more and more nurses kept appearing and staff were using needles on Dusty who was covered in sticky dots as they tried to read his heartbeat.
Staff made sure to get a lot of antibiotics into the bub who then went through a manic stage where he could not stop screaming no matter how hard Tayla tried.
When Dusty eventually calmed down, a doctor approached Tayla who was trying not to panic and knelt beside her to explain what had happened.
“He looked at me and said: ‘Look Dusty was really, really sick when you brought him in.
“‘He actually had sepsis and so we’re putting you on a plane and you’re going to Darwin now.’”
“The doctor was amazing, he just took control of the situation and you could tell he was under pressure.”
Tayla called Luke to come and say goodbye to their son before she and Dusty were transferred to Royal Darwin Hospital by CareFlight arriving at about 12.30am on the Tuesday.
The mum and bub stayed in the hospital for 10 days where blood cultures confirmed he had bacterial GBS sepsis and he received regular antibiotics and underwent several procedures.
During their stay, Tayla was told by ward staffer that if she had not acted when she did, Dusty would not have made it.
“She said: ‘You are so lucky. You literally had within half an hour to maybe an hour otherwise you would have lost Dusty.’
“‘It’s like your body knew you needed to get to hospital because it was serious.”
‘If something is telling you to go to the hospital, just go’
As Tayla spoke about the experience months later, Dusty who is back to his usual self, could be heard gurgling in the background.
But the experience has left its mark on the mum-of-four who did not really know much about sepsis before.
“It was definitely something I wasn’t expecting,” she said. “I didn’t even really understand it. “I’d seen the flyers and posters on the walls at the hospital but I just didn’t assume that someone so little could get sepsis.
“At the back of my mind, I’m always second guessing myself now. Dusty had his four-month needles and the staff said expect a temperature and I said to Luke ‘How do I know if it’s just a temperature or if he’s septic again?’”
In the Territory last year, there were 1,500 cases of sepsis recorded.
Sometimes the symptoms can be hard to put into words or hard to diagnose but they generally include: difficulty breathing, fast heart rate, fever, confusion, lack of urine, mottled skin and feeling of impending doom.
The best way to tackle the fast-moving and sometimes deadly infection is early detection and antibiotics.
Tayla said Dusty’s story could have been different if she had waited longer to take him to hospital.
“So I always say even if it’s the most inconvenient time or it’s the biggest pain in the arse, if something is telling you to go to the hospital and just get it checked, just go,” she said.
“No matter how annoying it is or how frustrating it can be.”
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Originally published as Katherine mum’s instincts and decision to stay sweaty saved baby Dusty from sepsis death
