One Mum's Story: Paula and Cameron

Our Miracle Baby
I am a mother of three children two of them conceived through IVF. Having two girls we decided to try IVF one last time in the hope of having a little boy. We were very excited that we fell pregnant and yes, it was a boy. This was our last child. But nothing prepared us for his very early entrance into this world.

I was 26 weeks and 5 days and I remember on the Saturday 21st July, I had a slight discharge and I was getting very mild period pain, which I thought were Braxton Hicks and didn't worry too much about them.

On Sunday 22nd July I was getting them again and they were a bit stronger by the night so I went to bed thinking they were just Braxton hicks as they weren't like contractions, much milder. But they were very frequent, every six minutes so I rang the hospital and spoke with them. I started to bleed and went to hospital. They examined me and the bleeding had stopped and sent me home telling me I could have an infection and this had nothing to do with the baby, the baby was ok. So we went home. The pain was getting a bit stronger and I had a sore back now, I knew something was not right, I tried to sleep, but couldn't, at 6am my waters had broken, and went straight to hospital. I really started to panic now the baby wasn't due until the 20th October and it was only 23rd July - I had 13 weeks to go, 90 days. That's a whole trimester!!

Arriving at the hospital, crying and in shock, we were taken to a ward and I was put on complete and strict bed rest and they did ultrasounds and put a belt on and they did everything they had to do. Because the waters were broken they told us that our baby will be born within 48 hours. They told me that every second the baby is inside is crucial for him. I just couldn't believe it, all I could do was cry and we knew nothing about premature babies. They started giving me injections so it would be passed on through to the baby, to help his lungs cope and we kept having ultrasounds checking on him. I was still not in labour yet, I was moved to a room and was not allowed out of bed, my family came to visit and I was having mild contractions that evening whilst they were there. Later on Monday 23rd about 11:00pm that evening my hubby went home to check on our other children and to get a change of clothes, just as he got home I called him straight back as the baby's heartbeat was irregular and Tachycardic. The doctors were concerned for the baby now and sent me to the Labour ward. I wasn't planning on giving birth I had arranged a caesarean section, so now I was very scared.

The Labour ward - I was terrified now. The doctors had visited us and the neonatal nurses came explaining what was going to happen. They told me to give my son a better chance I would have to deliver him naturally, and it's much better for his lungs rather than a c section. So of course that's the way we went. They set up his bed and machines and they even had heaters to blow hot air around the baby's bed. I think it was around 60 degrees, not 100% sure though

Labour intensified overnight though my hubby did manage to get some sleep!! I couldn't sleep as my back was really sore, but no signs of pushing. The midwives kept checking on me and told me to call if I needed anything at all, but when I have the urge to push to let them know.

Finally I did have the urge to push about 9:10am - I had dilated to 4cm. Suddenly the room had filled up with doctors, nurses, midwives and specialists, so many people.

On Tuesday 24th July Cameron was born at 9:23am weighing 1260 grams (2lbs 13oz), length 39cm, 13 weeks premature. I only got a glimpse as they were working on him and covered him in plastic and then took him to the NICU and my husband went with them. Whilst they were gone I had to deliver the placenta and it did not want to come out. When it did, the midwife told me that it looked like it was infected and it may have had a previous rupture early in the pregnancy, so it looks like we were lucky to have made it this far. It was sent away for further testing. We know now that the amniotic sac was infected with Chorioamnitis (a rare complication of prolonged ruptured membranes). Cameron was being ventilated as soon as he came out (breathing machine).

Apart from our shock and tears as to what was happening around us, medically everything was going well for our baby. Everything was going ok the first few days, apart from Cam having Bradycardias (forgetting to take a breath, due to prematurity) that was scary, every time the alarms went off we would nearly fall off our chairs in fear. Cameron was going on and off under the lights for jaundice, having tests and ultrasounds every day to check everything was ok, no brain bleeds thank gosh.

About one week later the troubles began Cameron started to become swollen in the belly and was crying a lot and we thought it was wind due to a curry I had eaten, but things just didn't look right. He became pale and mottled and constantly moaning and groaning and crying but there was no sound due to the tubes down his throat (very hard to watch). The nurses agreed and the doctors had ordered x-rays and blood tests, they thought Cameron had NEC, (Necrotizing Enterocolitis which affects the bowel), one of the worst things that could happen to a premature baby and can be life threatening, so my son was immediately put onto antibiotics.

That night everything started to go backwards and Cameron's little body was starting to shut down fast. The Professor said Cam had a 40% chance of surviving the night, all the staff were terrific that night, no one left his side at all, constantly monitoring him all night until the morning. We have never been so scared , just trembling all the time. Cameron had three blood transfusions, albumin infusions, heaps of antibiotics, steroids, adrenaline, blood pressure medicine and morphine and he became septic (blood poisoning) and so much more. It was then recommended Cameron be transferred to the Children's Hospital in case he needed surgery but they had to wait until he was stable enough to be moved. My little boy was so swollen with fluid he was puffy all over.

We went to Grace Ward at the Children's Hospital, absolutely shaking all over, no sleep at all, we were like zombies. Cameron's symptoms were severe. The doctor took my husband and myself into a small room and told us that in his opinion he most probably wouldn't survive another week. We were asked if we would like to get Cameron baptized and see a chaplain. More shock!!

He was treated medically as the surgeon didn't think there was any need to operate at this stage. Dosed up on the most of every drug his little body could cope with, his little heartbeat was around the 225 beats per minute!! So fast. All we could do was pray and hope. The minutes felt like hours.

Very slowly after a few days Cameron turned a corner and began to make a recovery and was sent back to Westmead Hospital.

Round 1 to Cameron.

One week later Cameron was 22 days old and just when we thought we were over the worst of it, he started looking very pale and moaning and started to swell again. Naturally we hit the panic buttons again. X-rays were ordered and blood tests taken again. They were all normal. Reluctantly, we left to go home at 6:00pm to eat and shower. We sat down worried sick eating dinner then the hospital rang home to tell us they had bad news. Cameron had perforated his bowel and it's pretty much the worst thing that could have happen and he was getting ready to be moved to the kid's hospital for surgery.

Weighing just 1570 grams he had surgery.

The surgeon visited us - he was brilliant, and reassured us as to what was going to happen; they suspected NEC had come back! After a 4 hour long wait, with our families there, the surgeon told us he had good news and bad news, and was very surprised with his findings.

The bowel was perfect and didn't need fixing, he had a perforated appendix. "A big hole where his appendix should have been'' - NEC may have started to eat away at it the first time round.

The surgeon told us that it was extremely rare and he had never seen this before but the head surgeon that night said that he had only seen this once in 45 years. This was one in two million and yes, very rare.

The good news is the bowel didn't need repair, the bad news is he has no appendix!! Which is the best bad news I have ever had, because you don't need an appendix!!

Round 2 to Cameron.

We waited for test and biopsies to come back and eventually Cameron was transferred back to Westmead again.

I have my little boy back.

Back at Westmead he started to bloat up again and immediately went onto antibiotics and back to Children's Hospital again, and everything this time was ok. Cameron stayed at the Children's Hospital until discharged for home. They too are brilliant. Had a few complications but very mild in comparison to what he just went through. The nurses gave Cameron his 100th day party, which was very kind.

After enduring all this and more - blood tests, heel pricks, seemingly almost every drug imaginable, arterial lines, central lines, eye examinations, breathing machines, splints on every limb, urine bags, caffeine, morphine, lumbar punctures, barium contrasts, plasma transfusions, fluid tabs, suppositories, medicine for lungs, canulas everywhere, platelets, x3 intestinal biopsies, sepsis, NEC, Rectal Dilations, Albumin Infusions, tubes everywhere and thick tape on your tiny face and too much more to write.

We ended up bringing our little boy home after 102 days.

Round 3 to US.

Cameron is now 19 months old and is very normal. He went home at 2.8kg and has made a full recovery, he is now 10kg. For what he has gone through he really is a miracle boy and we will treasure him forever.

Very special thanks to Grace Ward and Westmead Neonatal; you saved my little boy's life! Thank you.

Troy and Paula

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