Doctors 'Freeze' Baby: Newborn Suffered from Supraventricular Tachycardia (VIDEO)

Some heartwarming stories have icy starts. Quite literally.

When Claire Ives was seven months pregnant with her third child, she had to use a handheld device to listen to her unborn son's heartbeat. With the baby's heart hitting 300 beats per minute, she thought something had malfunctioned. This is nearly double the normal 160.

"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."

As doctors learned of the baby's condition, her son, Edward Ives, was delivered five weeks early via emergency cesarean at the University College London Hospital.

Edward was born with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) and was given a five percent chance of survival. SVT is caused by improper electrical impulses in the heart that leads to an irregular rapid heartbeat, 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.

"I just thought he was going to die," said Ives.

After Edward was born, his heart started to race again, and doctors had to reset his heart rate by shocking the heart and giving him different medications. When this 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.

"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. Nicola Robertson, who works in the neonatal unit at the University College London Hospital.

As Edward's body temperature was lowered to 91 degrees to protect his organs, doctors slowly began to raise his body temperature again. However, his heart soon began to race. So the team again cooled his body temperature, three days after they had initially lowered it.

Ives was sent out of the room when the doctors again attempted to slow his heart rate down by not only cooling but administering medication. Eventually they came to tell her that his heart rate had slowed, although he would again need to be warmed up to see if his heart rate was stable.

Doctors then began the slow process of warming Edward, this time going at a slower rate as they carefully raised his temperature only half a degree every 12 hours. This time his heart rate remained stable.

At 10 days after giving birth, Claire was finally able to hold her son. And a month after, she was able to bring him 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.

"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."

Want to see pictures of Edward? Check out this video, courtesy of YouTube.