Twice Through NICU – Our Unexpected Journeys
As told by mum, Billie
Our second child was born at 38 weeks in Christchurch. He came in a hurry with an unplanned home birth so was delivered by his dad! He was initially breathing fast but otherwise fine however over the next 12 hours he deteriorated. He was taken to NICU and we were told he would maybe need support for a day or two. He ended up doing 13 days in the end!
It was a rollercoaster in that we were told repeatedly that he would be able to go home the next day, and he would go backwards again overnight!
He was a little more vulnerable in his first year but after that had been well.
His younger brother was born at 37 weeks, 2 days, in Auckland (3 yrs later). He was born in hospital and had meconium in his waters. He was showing work of breathing within an hour but like his brother, was managing at first. On learning of his brothers journey they decided to take him to NICU earlier in case the delay played a part in the unexpected length of his brother’s recovery.
Once again, we were told to expect a day or two but this time we didn’t get our hopes up and just mentally prepared for a couple of weeks. He had an almost identical journey to his brother – took 12 days without any huge reason, they both just needed oxygen support (C-pap, then high flow, then low flow) and took their time coming off it.
The hardest bit for us was definitely being torn between child/ren at home and the one in hospital. Juggling the older sibling at home with one in NICU was so hard! I always felt as though I was letting a child down. Our older children were still preschoolers so were not allowed to visit. Both boys were feeding fine(!) so I stayed with them to support breastfeeding and would then try to pop out to see my bigger babies whenever I could.
It was a logistical battle too as well as a mental one. With my third, I would spend the night and day with him then come home after preschool pickup to sort dinner and bedtime for the older two children so they got to see Mum. Then it’d be back into the hospital for the night!
After coming out of NICU, our older son had a few hospital admissions in his first year (RSV and other respiratory illnesses) but since then has been very healthy.
Our younger son is currently only a few months old but is much bigger and more robust than his brother was so I’m hoping he handles all the usual coughs and colds a little better!
The Little Miracles Trust were amazing! The work they do is invaluable and means the world when you are stuck in there 💜
Thanks so much for sharing your personal story!
We get a lot of positive feedback from families in a neonatal unit who read these stories and feel strength, hope and positivity knowing that they are not alone going through these experiences and feeling certain emotions.
If you would like to discuss sharing the story of your neonatal journey, we’d love to hear from you.
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If you want to help our support of families going through the stress and anxiety of a neonatal journey, you can donate via the link below.
- The Little Miracles Trust provides support to families of premature or sick full-term babies as they make their journey through Neonatal Intensive Care, the transition home, and onwards. We do not receive any Government funding and are entirely reliant on the generosity of individuals, companies and organisations in the form of donations, value-in-kind donations, grants, sponsorship and fundraising events to supplement operating costs and fund our services and initiatives.
- As we are a registered charity (CC56619) with Charities Services New Zealand we will send you an IRD compliant tax receipt – this will happen automatically by return email.