Miracle mum Laura shares Reggie's story:

Our miracle Reggie was born unexpectedly on June 8th, 2023, at 27 weeks gestation. I was experiencing pains all day and decided to go to the hospital to be checked over. I'll never forget when I heard the midwife say during our check "we have fluid, I see the sack, there's the head" followed by the doctor saying "she's 10cm". I was whisked into a birthing suite and told to push, it was a terrifying time, my husband wasn’t with me, he was still on his way back from work over an hour away. my baby's heart rate was dropping every time I had a contraction. I was being told to push, but I didn't want to out of fear of what will happen once our baby is born into this world way too soon. Reggie arrived 30 minutes after getting to the hospital. our beautiful, tiny baby was here. I never got the "golden hour" people talk so much about. Instead, Reggie was quickly taken to be checked over then taken to be intubated in another room. Our hospital normally doesn't deliver babies earlier than 32 weeks however we didn't have any choice, Reggie was well on his way before I could be transferred to a hospital in Sydney.
The NETS team arrived about 3 hours after his birth and took Reggie to another hospital that was better equipped to care for a baby so young, I unfortunately had to stay in Wollongong and didn't get to see him again until the next day, then I didn’t get to hold him for the first time When he was 2 days old.
Due to some complications, Reggie was at 4 different hospitals in the first 4 days of his life. We finally ended up at Royal Women's Hospital in Randwick. Reggie was placed in a humidicrib and was on a CPAP machine. The doctor came by to discuss our situation and what would happen during our stay. As new parents to our first baby we were in survival mode, every conversation we've had was so clinical. We felt so scared and isolated, but we couldn't think about how we were feeling, our focus was our baby and making sure he was ok. During our hospital stay we met a wonderful miracle babies volunteer, Claire she came by Reggie's bed and introduced herself and she was one of very few people who asked us how we were feeling since Reggie was born. It was such a relief to speak to someone without the medical jargon, just have a conversation that wasn't so clinical, to speak to someone who had been in our situation. Speaking to her reminded us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and NICU won't be forever. This wonderful woman also provided us with bags of sanitary products such as maternity pads, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, soaps and more. It was such a huge help as we weren't prepared for any of this. We were staying in a hotel close by the hospital and this saved us taking extra time away from our baby to get the necessities. But the help didn't stop there. We were also provided with a diary to log Reggie's story which has been great to keep track of what happened each day when it all seemed like a blur, and even now I use it to read back on as a reminder of how far we have all come as a family since those early, scary days.
We looked forward to our visits from Claire, she came every few days and she was always happy, asking us how we were feeling and also about Reggie. She understood our situation as she had also had a baby in the NICU. When the time came for us to be moved to the special care unit back In Wollongong, we cried together with happiness that we were on the "home stretch" we spoke about what we would do when we finally got to go home with our boy and she gave us an idea of having a "superhero" party which we are doing for his first birthday. Receiving the Miracle Babies "graduation bag" was so touching. It was so lovely having someone to talk to during the hardest time of our life. We finally got to go home after 60 days in NICU, and Miracle Babies continue to support our family. We go to NurtureGroup every second Wednesday where we can chat to other miracle mums who have spent time in NICU, and our babies can grow up with kids who have had the same experience it makes the parents, and the kids feel less alone and isolated. We are so grateful for Miracle Babies’ Foundation, not only for the help we received during the scariest time of our lives, but also for the work they continue to do, raising awareness and providing assistance to other families going through their own NICU journey.