PLEASE NOTE: THIS STORY DEALS WITH INFANT LOSS

Bec and Khye have had two boys born prematurely, Josh and Lukas. Josh was born in Canberra Hospital at 33 weeks and 4 days, weighing 2000g and Lukas at 25 weeks and 1 day weighing only 780g. Unfortunately little Lukas did not survive being born prematurely.

Josh: My waters broke just after midnight on the 15th of June 2021. I was home alone as my husband, Khye, was interstate for work. I was so incredibly scared and confused. My best friend was able to pick me up and take me to the hospital where I was planning to birth.

Not long after we had got there, they confirmed that it was definitely my waters, I was dilating, what I was feeling was contractions and that labour was progressing. They quickly called an ambulance to transport me to the bigger hospital, as the current hospital didn’t have a NICU. I arrived at the bigger hospital, where they gave me some medication to try and stop labour – this didn’t work so they moved me up to birth suite.

Just as we started to move, Khye finally made it to me! As things started to progress, the team looking after me finally listened to us that he was breach and double checked his position. Once they confirmed he was breach, they called an emergency C-section. Within 10 minutes of that call, Khye was scrubbed up and we were heading down to the OR. I don’t remember much after that, but I know once Josh was born, Khye went straight to the NICU with him, and I was in recovery.

Josh did 2 days in NICU on CPAP and then 29 days in SCN working on developing his feeding, breathing and temperature regulation.

Lukas: Given everything that happened with Josh, we opted to go for a private OB and we had the absolute best experience with him! Unfortunately, one afternoon when I was 23 weeks, I started to experience some cramping and bleeding. I called the midwives and they advised that given my history I shouldn’t go to the private hospital and head straight up to the big hospital (where Josh was born).

They kept me in for observation overnight and the next morning they ran some tests and confirmed that my waters had broken and were slowly leaking. My private OB had to hand over care to the big hospital where I was admitted and told I was going to stay until at least 28 – 30 weeks. My hospital stay was mostly uneventful, I had a few big gushes of water which left me pretty much empty but we were doing ok. Until we weren’t. I woke up on the morning of the 11th February 2023 with a headache and was absolutely freezing. Eventually I got some help from my care team who decided to run some tests. When those results came back, it was confirmed I had developed a really nasty infection and that Lukas needed to come out.

I was whisked up to birth suite, started on magnesium and pumped full of steroids. Once all the drips were finished, I was taken down to the OR and Lukas was born via a classical c section shortly after. Like with Josh, Khye went straight up to NICU with Lukas and I went to recovery – luckily this time I had my Dad waiting for me so I wasn’t alone.

Lukas was diagnosed with a whole heap of conditions including severe pulmonary hypertension and a brain bleed that started as a category 1 on one side, but progressed to a bilateral category 4. Despite being the strongest, bravest, most beautiful little boy, all of these things were just too much for his little body and he passed away on the 14th of February 2023.

Josh – the NICU/SCN journey and having a preemie was something we had never even considered or had knowledge about. It was such a scary and new thing and given this was still in the era of Covid lockdowns, we didn’t have a lot of support and felt very alone.

Lukas – every day was and still is a challenge. At the time though, one of our biggest challenges were my prolonged hospital stay leading up to his birth – I had never spent a night away from Josh before this point!

Life’s Little Treasures Foundation helped us in a number of ways. With Josh, we were given a Precious Prems Pack during his NICU & SCN stay which was so lovely and had great little goodies and resources. With Lukas, I spent time every night reading the stories of babies born at 23, 24 & 25 weeks on the website, trying to give myself some hope that everything would be ok. It was amazing to read those stories and not feel so alone.

I’m happy to say that Josh is a happy, healthy and thriving 2 year old. We will take part and remember Lukas at Walk for Prems each year.

My advice to parents currently in hospital or expecting a prem baby, don’t be afraid to ask for, and to accept help.