I wrote this when Harrison was 18 months old, he is now turning 12 this month and the most amazing kid I could ever imagine!

Our little miracle Harrison was born at the Royal Alfred Hospital on the 20th of May 2011 at 31 weeks and weighed 1800grms and was 42cm long. The doctors said he had size on his side the whole time. My obstetrician had said if I went full term, he would have been nearly 8-9pound!

After a text-book pregnancy there is no reason as to why our little man came early, and unfortunately, they cannot guarantee that it won’t happen again, but in the same sentence his Paediatrician says he has rewritten the premmie handbook, our little fighter was kicking goals from the very beginning!

Harrison spent 10 days in the NICU at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and then they finally graduated him to the SCN and it was then he got transferred closer to home to the St George Private Hospital. Here he spent another 7 weeks till we finally got to bring him home, where he belonged!

Harrison wasn’t breathing when he was born and was resuscitated for 2mins. He was on CPAP for the first night and had one sleep apnoea during his first night in the world also. His lungs were a little weak once he was born, and he had a high heart rate that had the doctors testing and keeping an eye on, but after a few weeks you wouldn’t have even known. He was so strong and growing so well. He started his charming ways early with all the nurses quickly falling in love with him in the first couple of days!

I think one of hardest things of my life was during the time he was at the hospital, although I didn’t know life with him at home and being with me all the time, as soon as I met him, he just instantly become a part of me, and I didn’t want to leave his side. I think its instinct to want to be with your baby, I was leaving my brand new baby with people I didn’t know, yes they were professionals and of course these people where saving his life, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less when I had to leave him there every night, only so I could sleep to keep up the milk for him, otherwise I would of stayed there till he was able to come home! There were many nights where I would just cry the whole way home from the hospital, there were days were I would visit 6-7 times a day just to touch his tiny hand, or watch his little chest rise and fall.

It’s funny how you switch off to the alarms or the world around you when you get to hold your baby for the first few weeks, the time we got to hold him was always timed as of course it takes so much energy for them to be out of the humidicrib, so I ensured my every moment was focused on him so he knew how much he was loved and that I needed him to keep growing so he could come home soon. So, when that time was up, I would place him back in his humidicrib (we called it his toaster, as he just needed a little bit more cooking) and just watched him, I only left once he was asleep as I hated when he watched us leave, that was when I was the worse going home.

So fast forward 8 weeks, with a baby kicking every goal he possibly could, we finally get to bring our amazing little man home. The reality of how early he was when I had my ‘6 weeks after’ check-up, this was the week I was meant to begin my maternity leave from work, that was a very weird feeling for me!

So now Harrison is 17 months old and the most curious, cheeky, loving, and happy little man. His sitting/crawling and walking has been delayed a little and the Paediatrician has told me when he is two years of age, he will have caught up with all development stages, but children take their own time with everything, no two babies are the same, and this has by no means stopped our little fighter from doing anything he wants to do. He is just starting walk now and I couldn’t be prouder, our little man born 9 weeks early and went at life like a bull at gate, he hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped since. He is my world, and the bear hugs I receive every morning are priceless, no amount of money can be estimated for the thanks and praise that I give those amazing medical staff who helped our little man become the reason why I am placed on this earth, to make sure he has the most amazing life he deserves.