THERE is a brown, almost withered, maple leaf framed and hanging on the office wall of Dr Ian Laing. It is one of the most special gifts he's ever received from a patient's family, he says, plucked as it was from a tree on the Greek island of Kos, below which, it's believed, Hippocrates used to teach.
Also on the wall is another gift – this time one given to Colin Brotherstone back in 1968. It's a black and white photograph of a baby in an incubator, being tended to by nurses in heavily starched uniforms and hats.
The gift in this instance, though, was that of life, for Colin was the first baby admitted to the new neonatal unit at the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion.
It is now 40 years on from the day that picture was taken. Dr Laing is a consultant neonatologist at the new Simpsons in the Royal Infirmary at Little France, and the man hundreds of parents believe is responsible for saving the lives of their babies.
No matter how lyrical parents may wax about him, though, his modesty – unusual in a world where consultants can believe in their own reputations rather too much – forces him to shake his head.
"It's all about teamwork," he says. "No one person is responsible for saving a life here. We work together, and to be honest the nurses should take most of the credit as they deliver a very high quality of communication to the parents.
"Parents are scared when their babies are with us, especially if it's their first child, and particularly because there's so much technology involved.
"What the nurses succeed in doing is talking to the parents and saying yes, there's a lot of equipment and technology, but let's just concentrate on your baby."
His modesty doesn't stop parents referring to him as a "miracle worker", the man who "saved my baby" or even when, tragically, a life cannot be saved, as the man "who did everything he could".
It's no wonder, then, that when he appears in the neo-natal unit, parents standing at incubators – their hands clutching tiny fingers through the plastic – watch him with a kind of grim hope.
So where did it all begin for Dr Laing, this desire to work with the most fragile of lives? Originally from Buckie in Moray, medicine wasn't always the path the young Ian thought he would take. He was a violinist of some repute – leader of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain – and went through much soul-searching over which career to choose.
Thankfully for the parents of south-east Scotland, medicine won out. He joined the Simpsons in 1980 after studying at Cambridge and Edinburgh universities.
"I had thought I'd be a musician at one stage, but medicine has been the only serious thing for me since I was 18 – and I still get to play the violin for fun," he says.
Music is also his way of de-stressing after a hard day in the hospital. He plays in a string quartet and does "some Scottish fiddle music". In fact, he has been Master of Music to the Royal College of Physicians since 1997, and along with his violinist son Alexander, and his daughter Catriona, who plays cello, has performed in St Giles' Cathedral.
His children were born in 1978 and 1980 respectively, and while Alex is a professional musician, his daughter works for the Foreign Office in Turkey. Both arrived in the world without any problems – unlike 11 per cent of the babies born in the infirmary.
"There are probably 6600 babies born in this hospital every year and so we see 650 to 700 of them," says Dr Laing. "That's two new babies every day.
"We can have just one or two, and then suddenly have seven to deal with at once. Some are only here for a few days, but others stay for several months, and we can take 39 babies at any one time. We have reached capacity quite often.
"The largest number of babies are with us because they're born prematurely, while there's a smaller number who have congenital abnormalities. Our first instincts are always about how things can be improved, so the job is very creative in that respect – although there are a very small number who are not stable enough to survive. That is when the job is at its most stressful."
The unit was well established when Dr Laing arrived, having been started by Professor John Forfar and Miss Mary Taylor in 1968 – both of whom were due to speak at a special 40th anniversary event today at Edinburgh University's medical school.
"They had real vision that neonatology would become a sub-speciality of medicine," says Dr Laing, "and of course, they realised that would help save the lives of more babies. To have that vision is something special."
Over four decades there have been major changes in technology and medicines to help premature babies and, as a result, a baby such as Colin Brotherstone, born weighing 2lb 4oz, is routine these days.
Dr Laing says: "We now have monitors which tell us every second what their heart rate is, what their oxygen level is and their temperature, giving us the ability to keep them stable. In terms of families, we are very fortunate here to have facilities so families can stay overnight.
"We've got a system called Babylink where we keep the families up-to-date via a computer, and family on the outside can access it and even see photos of the baby. It's all about communication.
We are saving far more babies now – and those we save have much less brain damage than even in the 1980s. Cerebral palsy is dropping away, which is very exciting. But we always strive to do better."
While parents sing Dr Laing's praises, he is keen to talk about the Simpsons Special Care Babies charity, which has raised thousands, and the unit's patron, Dame Diana Rigg, who gives "unstinting support".
Another high-profile friend of the unit is the Prime Minister. Dr Laing, 56, is now a friend of Gordon and Sarah Brown after they found themselves in his care when their daughter Jennifer was born. Unfortunately, she was one of the few who didn't make it home.
As a result though, Dr Laing has been instrumental in setting up the research laboratory, funded by Sarah Brown's charity, PiggyBankKids. "There is work being done there to try to look after the baby in and out of the womb," he says. "Trying to keep a baby safely in the womb for longer is going to result in healthier babies when they emerge. The lab is trying to understand how the blood supply can be improved in the womb.
"The other issue is, if babies do come out too early, how can we care for them more safely? One of the things the Jennifer Brown research laboratory is working on is reducing eye damage that can occur when very premature babies are ventilated."
Of Sarah and Gordon Brown, he says: "I have the hugest respect for both of them. Some very short lives can have an impact on many different people. Jennifer has done that. She has had a huge impact. As has Dr Laing himself.
•
To donate to Simpsons Special Care Babies, visit http://sscb.workwithus.orgTHE NURSES WOULD WRITE LITTLE NOTES TO US FROM THE BABIESMUM-TO-BE Fozia was at a family celebration telling her loved ones that she was pregnant.
At 26 weeks she still wasn't even showing – but the next day she gave birth to twins.
Being 12 weeks early meant that the birth of Aaron and Aneesa was extremely stressful. "I didn't know I was in labour," says Fozia, of Craigmillar. "My waters had broken and I was having contractions, but I hadn't been to many of the ante-natal classes so I just thought it was stomach pains.
"As soon as the babies were born they were taken away and I didn't get to see them until eight hours later. They were both under 2lbs."
Weighing less than a bag of sugar, Aaron and Aneesa were initially fed through tubes while their mother was told there was a slim chance both would survive. "Their skin was so transparent," Fozia says. "I couldn't even pick them up until a few weeks later."
Fozia spent 12 weeks visiting the neo-natal unit, determined to be by the side of her twins. Husband Habib worked during the days, but joined her as soon as he could.
Fozia says the care given by the staff was outstanding. "They did a lot more than I would ever have expected, both on a personal and professional level. The nurses would write little notes from the babies to us and leave them for us. They'd say things like 'Hi mummy, the nurses say I've done really well with my feeding today'. The care was absolutely brilliant. You don't really appreciate what the staff do until you're in that situation."
With the twins, nearly five years old, now happy and healthy and starting school this year, there are no plans to go through it all again.
"It's just amazing how they've come on," says Fozia. "You don't understand it until you've been there, every day going in and thinking your child might die. It was horrible. I'm just glad it's over now."
'We owe Maria's life to care shown by Dr Laing'
SARAH ATSA (pictured above with family) had been looking forward to her Greek holiday. At 26 weeks pregnant, her GP had cleared her to fly.
"But then it was as though I had food poisoning, I was so sick," she recalls. "My husband George is Greek, so we'd gone to Kalymnos to see his family. I was so ill they sent me to a doctor, who said the baby and I were fine, and gave me an anti-sickness injection. Then I went to the toilet and found I was bleeding. They said the baby was coming and would be here in 20 minutes."
Panic set in and Sarah's waters were broken. "It was a very basic hospital. There was no pain relief available, and then when Maria was born there were no incubators or ventilators. They only had an adult-sized oxygen mask."
While Sarah, 27, recovered, Maria was flown with George to a hospital in Crete, where she was rushed to intensive care. "Maria was just under three pounds and she needed a blood transfusion. I was the only match, so I had to be flown across too. She also had hydrocephalus and her head was swelling, and they had no idea what to do."
After two weeks the Atsa's insurers, Tesco, persuaded the hospital to let them all fly by air ambulance back to Edinburgh, where Maria was taken straight to the neo-natal unit. "They were fantastic from the start. They treated her hydrocephalus and the fluid drained away," says Sarah, who now lives in the Gyle.
"Dr Laing saved her life. He gave her the chances she needed to survive. He treated her as if he was her grandfather. He was there day and night, he really cared. Everyone there was fantastic, but we owe Maria's life to him."
In fact, it was Sarah's father, John Barrett MP, who gave Dr Laing his treasured maple leaf as a thank you for the care he'd shown Maria.
Unfortunately Maria had also suffered a massive brain haemorrhage, and as a result has cerebral palsy. "But she's getting better all the time," says Sarah.
Her experience hasn't put Sarah off though, and she gave birth to her second daughter, Hope, nine weeks ago. "It was almost the same. I started contractions at 26 weeks, but because of the expertise at Simpsons, they didn't break my waters, just let me rest, and I held out until 39 weeks. Everything has been fine."
The full article contains 2028 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
