New hope

Upon arrival in Hobart, my new team of specialists came and introduced themselves. They were absolutely amazing and would do everything possible in their power to bring my baby safely in to this world, but not a day earlier than was absolutely necessary.


I was started on antibiotics, progesterone (rectally to reduce risk of infection), regular blood tests to check for infection, magnesium to help protect bub if I did go into labour, steroids for bub's lungs, and also medication to stop contractions (even though I wasn't having any at that stage) and round the clock observations. I was told that generally the first sign of infection, is tightening's in the uterus, or just not feeling quite right in myself.


I was hopeful - after all, I had done this before - my daughter was born just 5 years earlier, but I didn't get an infection with her, I just went into labour - but I had a stitch this time - I was putting all my faith into that stitch!!


That night I was taken away for an in depth scan of bub, just to see if there was any fluid left and to double check that all was ok. Bub was estimated to be around 700 grams at this point, which is a fantastic size for gestation. Very little fluid unfortunately, but bub was happy & healthy. They weren't able to confirm gender for me (I had forgotten to ask my ob at my 20 weeks scan to confirm haha) due to the lack of fluid.


My team of specialists made sure that I was aware, that the only thing worse than an extremely premature baby, is an extremely premature sick baby - so any signs at all of infection, or further complications, then I would be rushed off for an emergency C-section.


I had a meeting with the head neonatologist, whom I had gotten to know quite well from when my daughter was born, and had to have a conversation that no one ever wants to have about whether to resuscitate, or fight for bub's life if he/she was to be born soon. At 24 weeks, bub had only a 50% chance of survival, and that was if he/she was born healthy. I had fought so hard for this pregnancy, and at no stage was I ever going to give up on this miracle. My decision was that I placed full trust in the specialist team, and if they thought we were fighting a losing battle, then I would leave the decision up to them - if bub had a chance, then I wanted them to help us fight for it though.


All was going perfectly well. My ultimate goal was to reach 32 weeks, although as a smaller goal we thought we could aim for 25 weeks first - each day was a bonus though.


On the 10th March 2015, we were to be tested once again...