Miracle mum Megan and Jess shares Rylee's story:

“Our journey began on the 13 February 2021; with the transfer of our embryo. Two weeks later we received the phone call we had dreamed about, we had a baby on the way!

For the next 6-8 weeks, it was all relatively straight forward. We decided to get the Harmony test and we found out we were having a little girl! At the same time, we were told that the test showed low PAPP-A, which didn’t cause too much concern at the time.

Fast forward to the 20-week scan, Rylee was growing nicely but sat under the 20^th percentile for weight. They then discovered that the umbilical cord was attached to the bottom of the placenta (rather than the centre). After this news, our scans became weekly.

Our 24-week scan showed complications with Rylee’s growth – severe IUGR and in the less than one percentile.

The next few weeks were tense, with Jess in and out of hospital and constant monitoring. However, by this point, we were very happy to get to 28 weeks.

On the 17 August, Jess was hooked up to the CTG and there were spikes in Rylee’s heartbeat. Given these results and not wanting to take any risks, it was decided that Rylee would be delivered that evening, via emergency C section.

Rylee was born at 10:09pm, at 28 weeks and 6 days, weighing 858 grams.

The following morning was surreal. To see our tiny baby girl, hooked up to so many machines was confronting, and not being able to hold Rylee was extremely hard.

Throughout our time in NICU and SCBU Rylee progressed every day, constantly surprising the doctors and nurses. We had small setbacks along the way, and every day was ridden with anxiety. However, we are extremely proud that Rylee fought as hard as she did and we are so lucky to have our beautiful and healthy baby home with us and thriving.”