Darcy's Story, 25 Weeks
Miracle Mum, Cara shares her story to help other mums going through the NICU journey.
"After spending almost 3 weeks in hospital on bed rest with complications stemming from a haemorrhage at 13 weeks, I went into labour when our baby was 25+2 weeks gestation. Darcy Hope was born on June 17th 2013, weighing just 572grams (1lb 4oz).
Darcy spent the first 139 days in the NICU at the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital, and one week back at our local hospital in their SCN.
While in hospital, she faced many challenges, including Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) ligation surgery, numerous blood transfusions and all the usual side effects of being born premature. She also had Chronic Lung Disease and had to come home on oxygen for the first 7 months.
The first two years had their tough moments, with appointments, setbacks from illnesses and Darcy had a nasogastric tube (NGT) in for a few months to help her gain weight because she struggled with weight gain since she came home from hospital.
But fast forward a few years and Darcy has just celebrated her 5th birthday and other than being a small kid, is healthy and bright and ready to start school!
Hopefully, this gives other parents going through this at the moment some hope, as I know these stories helped me during our NICU experience."
Important tags: haemorrhage, Patent Ductus Arteriosus, blood transfusions, Chronic Lung Disease, nasogastric tube (NGT)
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