At 7 weeks along I was having a threatened miscarriage, thankfully baby was ok. At my 12 week scan baby was still doing well, so I thought this pregnancy is going to be ok, well 2 weeks I started bleeding and went to the hospital. They couldn’t find where the bleeding was coming from, so they did an ultrasound, again baby was doing well. This bleeding kept going until I was 18 weeks along and then stopped.

By 21 weeks we had a pattern of his movements, and they started decreasing, I was in and out of the MAC unit every week getting checked due to decreased movements. I was classed as a high-risk pregnancy at this point.

At 32 weeks his movements stopped so I went back to the hospital to be checked, his heart rate had dropped but came back fast. I had told the doctors I was in pain when I walked and when someone touched my stomach slightly, I was told it was normal pregnancy symptoms and not to worry.

At 34+4 I had went to my antenatal appointment and wasn’t able to be touched by the doctor, they checked the baby’s heart rate and it was low so I was sent up for monitoring, his heart rate kept dropping while I was being monitored and I was admitted onto the ward. By 8:30 they transferred me over to the birth suite for the doctors to monitor. A decision was made by 11:30pm to induce me as the baby was not coping anymore. I was prepared for him to come and was excited to meet my little miracle. I was induced with the tape and had contractions for 7 hours before the doctor broke my waters at 6:30 the next morning, I was not progressing and the baby was becoming distressed, by 7am a code pink was called, and I was rushed for an emergency c-section. While they were getting me ready for the surgery a code green was called and I was put under general anaesthetic.

I didn’t get to meet my son for 4 hours after I woke up, I got to the SCN to meet him, and I couldn’t believe how small he was (he was born only weighing 1850 grams) but I was glad he was safe. He couldn’t keep his sugar levels correct, ended up with needing antibiotics until another set of bloods was done due to possible infection, needed to be tube fed and have help with his temperature.

I was told when he was 13 days old they suspected he may have had a stroke in the womb and that was hard to take in (thankfully that wasn’t the case) by day 16 he had done everything he needed to come home, day 17 we were discharged and went home.

It’s now been almost 7 weeks since he was born and I can’t thank the doctors, midwife’s, nurses and SCN staff enough for the wonderful care they gave to my son and I in such a difficult time. He has absolutely lightened up my life.