Kayce's Story, 23 Weeks
Miracle Mum, Morgan shares the story of Kayce's early arrival.
"From a young age I was told that I would most likely have difficulties conceiving due to being diagnosed with endometriosis and PCOS. After trying for a few years my partner and I will never forget the day we found out we were expecting.
What we thought was a smooth pregnancy was up until I went to my 20 week morphology scan, where the sonographer and OBGYN discovered that my cervix was funnelling, membranes bulging and my cervix was already 3cm dilated. The thought of losing our baby was terrifying and we knew we had to do everything in our power for our little baby. After many hours of discussions, we decided to have an emergency cervical cerclage placed, which meant spending many weeks at hospital on complete bed rest with my legs up and on an incline.
It came to a point where I began to bleed and the decision to remove the cervical cerclage was our only option as it was tearing through my cervix. This was one of the hardest decisions we had to make for our baby and my health as we knew this meant the doctors couldn’t do anymore other than give me steroids and to let this baby come naturally when he is ready. I went 36hours without any contractions and then I began to bleed very heavily. I continued to lose lots of blood so the doctors broke my waters to try get bub out but I continued to haemorrhage and was taken for an emergency c-section due to a placental abruption.
On Wednesday 16th June 2021 at 1928 our beautiful boy Kayce was born at 23 weeks and 1 day into this world weighing a tiny 510grams and 30cm long. From day dot Kayce was a little fighter who never failed to put a smile on everyone face. As days went by our baby boy continued to reach each milestone before they should have been met. I got my fist cuddles with him on day 10 and as far as we knew he was a very healthy boy until one afternoon Kayce began vomiting blood and we discovered he had necrotising enterocolitis (NEC).
It’s that one call after you leave NICU for the day that you never want to receive “Mum, dad where are you? Its Kayce, you need to come in now he’s not well”.
We rushed to the car and began our 20-minute trip to the hospital and a second call came through; “how far away are you? Can you get here as soon as you can. I’m so sorry to tell you this but we are currently resuscitating Kayce and it’s not looking good."
We tried so hard to hold it together in the car, but we were so worried. As soon as we opened the door into NICU the head nurse and doctor held our hand and said the words we will never forget. "I’m so sorry but he is gone, there is nothing more we could have done for him. We have continued CPR to keep his heart going for you so you guys can have your last cuddles with him alive."
We sat, grieved and cuddled Kayce for hours on end in a private room. We bathed and dressed him for the first time. We held him tight in our arms knowing he went peacefully. Our hearts have been totally ripped apart in losing Kayce, however the support and love we have received not only from our family and friends but the Townsville NICU unit who went above and beyond in supporting us throughout this challenging time.
Despite the loss of our beautiful baby boy Kayce, we are just so grateful that we got to spend 15 beautiful days with our healthy baby boy. "We will always love and miss you Kayce Lee and we can’t wait for you to be a big brother." - Mum and Dad xx
Thank you so much Morgan for sharing your precious Kayce's story.
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