Miracle Mum, Michelle welcomed baby number 7 at 26 weeks after she discovered her uterus was thinning. She shares the story of his arrival.

"Our precious Zeppelin was a big surprise, after already having six kids. The two babies before Zeppelin were born at 28 and 29 weeks - so we had done the NICU journey already. We had high hopes that Zeppelin would stay in until term but at 24 weeks I started to get some funny pains.

I tried to ignore it and continue working as a midwife - but at 26 weeks I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I went to the hospital and the scan showed that my uterus was very thin after so many c-sections and our little boy wouldn't be staying in there much longer.

The following morning the pain got a lot worse and I was rushed off for a c-section and our beautiful boy Zeppelin made his way into the world at 26+3 days and weighing 1200gs.

He was ventilated for 12 hours and then went on to CPAP. His journey in NICU was rocky - he developed a severe lung infection and was put back on the ventilator- we were told to expect the worst - we cried for our little boy and just when things looked very grim he put his ventilator tube out and managed to cope on CPAP again.

We knew then that our boy was a fighter and he was strong. We went home at 36 weeks corrected and he has thrived since then. He has central apnoea and is on a monitor at night, but other than that he his perfect.

He's 7kg now and is the missing piece to our very large family of nine. We are grateful everyday, for not only our son but the amazing staff who looked after him."

Want to share your story too? We welcome every Miracle family story, no matter what stage of the journey you're at.
We encourage those wishing to share their story to submit it below:

Share your family story