Miracle mum Lauren shares Beau's story:

Beau is my first baby. My pregnancy was completely normal, with absolutely no problems to report at all. That’s why me going into spontaneous premature labour was such a shock for both my partner and I.

I am a registered nurse and finished my shift at midnight the night before I went into labour.

Both my partner and I woke up at about 0800 the next day and I complained to him about very mild back pain. My partner is a paramedic, and he decided to probe a little further, and then suggested I ring the hospital we were supposed to deliver at. The midwives on the phone suggested we come in for some monitoring but not to rush. They also suggested I put a pad on to see if I was leaking any amniotic fluid. I finished my breakfast while my partner showered.

I then went upstairs to the bathroom took off the pad and noticed a small amount of blood, I was concerned but still did not think I was in labour so continued with my shower. When I got out of the shower my waters broke all over the bathroom floor. I shouted for my partner and things went from 0-100. I was in very active labour with contractions close to 2 minutes apart. My partner called for an ambulance as I did not think I’d make it to the hospital.

The paramedics arrived very quickly and helped me down the stairs to the ambulance. We got to the hospital and the NICU team was on standby. My obstetrician and many midwives were present in the room. The team were absolutely fantastic, and I could not have delivered my baby without there caring support.

Beau was delivered within 15 minutes of us reaching the hospital and with 2 contractions. All together my labour lasted 90 minutes.

Beau spent 24 days in the NICU with round-the-clock care. He was on CPAP for 7 days having apnoea periods, jaundice, feeding difficulties and hypothermic periods. At one point they were considering transporting him out as they thought he had a twisted bowel, luckily this wasn’t the case.

We were able to go home a few weeks early as the John Hunter has a community nursing program. We fed Beau through a nasogastric tube and the nurses came around every day to check on us and make sure Beau was heading in the right direction.

For anyone just starting their NICU journey the days are long, but there will be light at the end of your tunnel.