Isla's Story, 25 Weeks
Miracle Mum, Joelle shares Isla's story.
"Besides being horrendously sick with Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), I had a relatively normal pregnancy. It wasn’t until around 23 weeks pregnant I visited the birthing unit for a bleed. I was discharged and told everything was fine. A week later at home I experienced had another bleed, but this time I knew something was horribly wrong. My husband rushed me to the hospital where I thought I was going to lose my baby girl. The doctor told me I was in labour and already 8cm dilated. They weren’t equipped for a baby born so early so I was transported to Liverpool hospital where I stayed for three days before I gave birth to my tiny miracle at exactly 25 weeks. She was so small, I had never seen anything like her before. She was taken to the NICU where I met her after I was cleaned up and much to my suprise I was able to hold her; only two hours after she was born. To me, she was perfect!
The first few days were quite uneventful but then the roller coaster started: Bradycardia, desats, apnoea, too many blood transfusions to count, intubation, the list goes on! I hated seeing her like that and I blamed myself and my body for not being able to keep her safe.
The days felt like weeks and the weeks felt like months and the months felt like years! I just wanted to bring my baby home. Around 2.5 months old, just as we thought we were on the road to taking her home, Isla contracted a Staph infection from the cannula and it turned into a pneumonia. Just when things started to look up, our world came crashing down as we were told they weren’t sure if our baby would make it. We spent hours and hours by her bedside praying for her to pull through and much to the doctors amazement our little trooper did it!
The NICU journey is not like anything I’ve ever experienced; it’s full of the highest highs and the lowest lows. I cannot put into words what my family and I went through during those four months; walking through those doors day after day wondering what it would bring. She proved to us that miracles really do happen! Now she is nearly four years old and is the light of our lives. She has no lasting implications from her premature birth and I believe she is destined for great things!"
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