SWNSLucy Letby helped make a celebration banner to mark a baby girl’s 100 days birthday just hours before attempting to kill her, the nurse’s trial heard.
Ms Letby is accused of attempting to murder the premature baby, referred to as Child G, three times at the Countess of Chester Hospital in September 2015.
On one occasion, Child G’s mother found her daughter “freaking out and screaming” after being left in Ms Letby’s care.
Ms Letby, 32, denies 22 charges.
Manchester Crown Court heard how Child G was born almost 16 weeks prematurely at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral and weighed just over 1lb.
She was transferred to the neonatal unit in Chester at 13 weeks.
The court heard Ms Letby was on the last of a run of four night shifts when the baby suddenly became ill in the early hours of 7 September 2015.
She had vomited violently and was bleeding from the throat before suffering a collapse.
Doctors were called and the baby was moved to intensive care where she was resuscitated.
It is alleged Ms Letby had over-fed Child G.
The jury has previously been told the baby survived but suffered irreversible brain damage and has multiple disabilities including quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
In a statement read to the court, Child G’s mother described an occasion when Ms Letby had told her that she needed to take her daughter’s blood readings.
She said: “She said ‘wait in the parents’ room’ which was not unusual, because nurses often say ‘go out and come back later’. So I went for a coffee but something pinched me, and so I went back early.
“[Child G] was freaking out and screaming. She looked so puzzled.
“Lucy was with another member of staff trying to calm her down, they let me hold her in the end because that’s what calmed her down – cuddles”.
In a separate statement, Child G’s father said he “never saw anything” that caused any concerns about any of the nurses or doctors.
He also said in his statement that his daughter was given a 5% chance of survival upon her birth, and was so tiny she was no bigger than his hand.
The day after Child G’s collapse, the court was told that at 16:25 BST Ms Letby texted a former nursing colleague, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
She asked: “How are parents?”
The colleague replied: “Devastated but determined she’ll get through as always. Thought that if she got to 100 then they would feel confident she’d be fine.”
Ms Letby responded: “Awful isn’t it. We’d all been sat at desk at start of the shift making banner.”
The other nurse replied: “Yup. Mary brought her cake in.”
An hour later, Ms Letby asked: “Any idea what’s caused it.”
The nurse replied: “Nope. Just seems to be a [circulatory] collapse. Chest seems clear”.
Ms Letby replied: “Hmmm. What can cause that? Is it that she’s been an extreme prem who had long term inotrope and vent dependency and now she’s older and doing more for herself and it just takes a little bug or something to tip her over as no reserves and chronic lung etc.”
The nurse replied: “We are going with sepsis, and yes to no reserves, she looks grim”.
Ms Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others.
A court order bans the reporting of the identities of the children allegedly attacked by Ms Letby, while identifying parents or some witnesses is also banned.
The trial continues.
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