Miracle mum Kati shares Calliope's story:

During the pregnancy I had some complications that I was informed of and told how to manage but no one prepared us or informed us of the possibility of having a premature baby. I was 30 weeks along in my pregnancy and I was going in to the hospital for my check-up as planned with my partner by my side. To me nothing seemed to be of concern and I was feeling how I felt for majority of my pregnancy, the only real difference was I was having some pains in my belly that my partner and I thought were just Braxton hicks, I’d been having them for about 2 weeks on and off. During the check-up the OB asked if everything was okay as my blood pressure was very low (this was abnormal as during pregnancy I had gestational hypertension and was on lots of medication) I mentioned I felt fine just uncomfortable due to the Braxton hicks. He decided to palpate my belly to feel around and see where baby was sitting. He said it all felt fine nothing of concern but he wanted me to go up to maternity to get monitored due to my very low blood pressure. So, I went up to maternity to be monitored with my partner following and those pains in my belly was actually starting to feel more intense. The doctor put me in a exam room and went to find my midwife. She came in and was monitoring my blood pressure and asked if I was still getting the Braxton hicks which I said I was. She seemed very unsure about what I was feeling and went to get a dr. Another dr came in and after telling her how I was feeling and what I was feeling she decided to put the monitor over my belly to see if it would pick up anything in terms of contractions. We sat there for an hour and nothing showed on the monitor but I was still having these feelings in my belly. At that point she decided it would be the safest option to do a vaginal exam just to ensure everything was still in tact and nothing was wrong. I sat through the exam and my midwife and the doctor were talking in short sentences so I didn’t understand the full story which was worrying. The doctor performing the exam finished and stated she wanted to go get the lead doctor on the ward to double check everything, this was very worrying for me and I wasn’t been told anything. The doctor came back with the lead doctor who introduced himself and said he needed to perform another vaginal exam to make sure baby and I were safe. He set all the instruments up, took one look and then stood up, looked at me and said “I’m so sorry, we have to send you to Brisbane, you’re in early labour and 3cm dilated”. I went into shock and started crying, I didn’t know what was happening. Within 10 minutes my midwife had injected me with antibiotics and steroids to hopefully help Bub if she came out and also gave me a medication to try and slow labour down. I was in complete shock. Within 2 hours I was on a plane from Rockhampton to Brisbane in early labour all on my own. My partner was left in Rockhampton to drive all the way down to Brisbane the following day. We weren’t sure what was happening or how fast she was coming. We weren’t told anything we were just told she was coming and it wasn’t going to be safe to deliver her in Rockhampton and there was no room on the plane for my partner. I landed in Brisbane and by the time I arrived at the hospital I was contracting every 10 minutes so they took me straight to the birthing suite. I was in birthing suite for three days as contractions kept coming and going. During those three days we had paediatric doctors come and visit us and tell us what it would look like having a premature baby in the NICU how long it would possibly be, what would happen during labour, how many people would be in the room while I was delivering baby. The Brisbane doctors did try to slow the labour down and keep her in there a little bit longer, but by the end of the second day the doctors came to see me and told me they weren’t going to try to slow the labour down anymore. If Bub wanted to come she was going to come out now and by 12:58 am the next morning I had given birth to a 1.7 kg little girl. she had to be put on CPAP and taken to NICU immediately. I couldn’t see her for 5 hours. I ended up staying in Brisbane for 4 weeks while my partner travelled backwards and forwards from Rockhampton to work so we had some money coming in. After those 4 weeks, we were flown home back to Rockhampton where she spent another 3 weeks in the SCN.