Curtis, 35 weeks

Miracle mum Amy shares Curtis's story:

In December 2024, I suffered a life-threatening thyroid storm caused by severe Graves’ disease. I survived, but despite months of treatment, my thyroid levels remained dangerously high.

Then I found out I was pregnant.

What should have been one of the happiest moments of my life quickly became filled with fear. Because my Graves’ disease remained severe and my antibody levels were exceptionally high, I was repeatedly warned about miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth, foetal thyroid disease, heart failure and the real possibility that my baby would not survive. Termination was raised at appointment after appointment. . I grieved Curtis a hundred times before he was even born 

But Curtis kept growing.

Very few people knew I was pregnant. I was terrified of having to announce a pregnancy and then a loss. I couldn’t bring myself to buy baby clothes, prepare a nursery or truly imagine bringing him home. I built an emotional wall around myself not because I didn’t love him, but because I loved him so much that I didn’t know how I would survive losing him.

At 21 weeks , medication was no longer enough and I underwent a total thyroidectomy. Major surgery while growing a baby was terrifying.

Recovery was brutal   Yet through fortnightly monitoring at the foetal medicine unit, Curtis continued to surprise us. His scans remained reassuring. Against all the fear and predictions, he was fighting alongside me.

In the early morning On Saturday 4th July and at exactly 35 weeks, my waters broke,  We had a very nervous 90min drive to the hospital,

After seven months of being told to prepare for the possibility that Curtis might not survive, suddenly the moment we had feared and hoped for was here..

There was no time to process it. 

 Curtis was born via emergency c section at 2pm that same day after it was decided my heart was to weak for me to attempt labour he was taken away so quickly that I barely had time to comprehend that he was here and for 5 hours, I had no idea if he was okay.


I was left lying there, knowing he had been born but not knowing what was happening to him. He had been taken away so quickly that part of me was left wondering whether any of it had really happened or had it all been a dream.

His arrival should have been the moment when all the fear disappeared. Instead, our focus immediately shifted to our little  baby in the NICU. 

 
My partner, Andy stayed beside Curtis while I recovered. I was physically depleted and emotionally overwhelmed. However, the truth was, After spending  months preparing myself for the possibility of losing him, I was terrified to meet him. I had spent so long protecting myself that I was frightened I wouldn’t know how to let myself love him..

It was during one of my first visits with him that Kara from Miracle Babies Foundation popped in to say hello. She couldn’t have known how badly I was drowning that day. I was overwhelmed by everything, feeling like the walls were closing in and struggling to find any way through it. Kara sat with me for hours talking. Her kindness and compassion gave me something I desperately needed. It didn’t fix everything, but it boosted me just enough to get through that day she made me feel like I wasnt alone I never got to thank her for what she did for me. That small act of kindness has stayed with me.

Curtis was perfect and despite all the worst cases I was told he was healthy.

It wasnt instant but it didnt take long before I felt it, a strong connection one that had been there all along. I realised that despite everything we had been through, despite every moment we had been afraid to hope, I had loved him from the very beginning.

Recovery didn’t end with childbirth. I have lifelong health complications due to my thyroidectomy and I developed a heart murmur after the immense stress my body endured. But the deepest scars are the ones nobody can see.

The tears I cried when no one was looking, the loneliness I felt  holding it all together for so long

when I look at Curtis now, I don’t see the baby everyone told me I might lose

I see my miracle.

He taught me that sometimes hope is terrifying but it is worth fighting for.

He is now 6 weeks old and had his final thyroid check. He has been given the all clear

I hope one day Curtis always knows how much his mum and dad love him and how he gave us strength we never knew we had.