Miracle mum Chantelle shares Myles's story:

I found out I was pregnant with my son Myles in December 2023 after being told in the prior years that I wouldn’t conceive without medical intervention due to fertility issues.

My pregnancy was rocky, I was often experiencing reduced movements and pains so I was frequently having monitoring and scans but we were always reassured that Myles was fine and where he needed to be despite the symptoms I was having. It wasn’t all bad for me though, as every week I was scanned and got to see my little boy grow.

I celebrated my baby shower Saturday the 9th of June 2024 which was exactly a week before Myles was born.

The following Monday after my baby shower I went to the maternity unit due to again having significantly less fetal movements and was placed on monitors and was once again sent home despite a slight abnormality in the CTG trace.

The next day I presented to a routine OBGYN appointment and mentioned the reduced movements and how frequent it was happening and was placed on a CTG which came back abnormal, I was sent home for a couple of hours and was asked to come back to see if Myles was having a funny 5 minutes or to see if this abnormality was something reoccurring. The CTG that followed showed no abnormality, and once again I was sent home.

The Wednesday I once again presented to the maternity unit for the same issues, I was sent home and the Thursday I was feeling fine and hopeful.

At 5.30am on the 14th June 2024 at 31 weeks exactly, my waters broke naturally in bed. I contacted my birthing hospital and was told to be calm and present to the maternity unit to be assessed in which they discovered my cervix was closed which at the time was good. The nurses placed me on antibiotics and a medication to stop labour from starting, as well as administering my first shot of steroids to support my son’s lungs should he be born early.

Due to only being 31 weeks exactly, a priority 1 ambulance was called and I was raced up to FSH Murdoch as my birthing hospital couldn’t support babies under 34 weeks gestation. From there I was assessed and was told my cervix was still closed and we were reassured once again that the medication will stop the labour and baby will stay in, but I’d have to stay in hospital for 2 more days for monitoring.

I began to bleed in the afternoon of the 14th June, the ward was extremely busy so it took a while to have a nurse come and see me and assess the extent of the bleed and what it meant, but we were told it was normal and not to worry.

The night rolls around, my partner and Mum are sent home due to the nurses being confident that labour wasn’t coming on and visiting hours being over. I began experiencing light cramping and expressed this to the midwives but was told I couldn’t risk another cervical exam due to the risk of infection as I had ruptured membranes.

The cramping persisted and was getting progressively worse, I was placed on CTG monitoring briefly every few hours to check how Myles was doing but was told everything was okay. The nurses had told me the cramping wasn’t labour and was Braxton hicks and not to worry.

I spent the majority of that night having consistent crampings which began to feel somewhat regular.

Around 3-4am I started to time these “cramps” which then started getting closer together and stronger.

I called the midwife and was met with a male OBGYN and midwife who had told me that I absolutely was not in labour and not to worry. At this time I knew something was wrong and demanded a cervical check despite the doctors' recommendation once again due to the risk of infection, but at this point I was desperate.

I was examined and told I was 4cm dilated and was rushed to birthing suites, thankfully my partner and mum were awake and rushed to the hospital.

My labour was somewhat normal, my midwife struggled to maintain a CTG trace throughout the labour as we thought due to ruptured membranes and the size of Myles that it would be difficult. I wasn’t bothered by this at the time but as the hours went on I could see the midwife becoming concerned by the irregular trace.

The consultant was called in to assess and come up with a plan and to see if a trace could be found by ultrasound, the ultrasound indicated that his heart rate was dropping and he was in distress. Due to how far into my labour I was the consultant almost went for a forceps delivery but quickly then decided how dangerous the situation was becoming and raised a Category 1 Code Blue Emergency C section.

After the code blue was raised, I was rushed to theatre and was immediately being prepped for surgery, I was told I’d be put under general anaesthetic due to the c section needing to be performed quickly. This meant my Mum and Partner couldn’t be there to support me, which was extremely scary.

My son Myles was born at 1259 on the 15th June 2024 weighing 1.6kg. He was also born only 14 minutes after the code blue was called in birthing suites.

Myles was resuscitated and required to be admitted into the NICU at FSH due to his gestation, being unable to breathe independently and jaundice. He was transferred to the unit alongside his Dad once he was in a stable condition.

Once I recovered from surgery I was able to briefly meet Myles from afar up in the NICU.
I wasn’t able to hold him until a few days after due to his condition.

With this seeming to be like the longest story ever, this is only a very brief description of our story.

Myles is now almost 1 and is the strongest, happiest and most resilient little boy ever. We are so grateful for him and count our blessings everyday for his growth and development.