At 27 weeks gestation Mummy was very unwell because she had Pre-eclampsia and HELLP Syndrome, so in December 2008 at 12:40pm in the afternoon I was delivered by emergency c-section weighing in at a tiny 645g - or 1lb 7oz in old money.
Just like all of the other babies, Mums and Dads in the NICU we had our fair share of ups and downs. On the day I was born I was ventilated however the following day I managed on CPAP - I might have been tiny but I had fight in me from the very start. I was doing super until I was a week old when I contracted Sepsis in my long line and became unwell. I needed to stay under the blue lights because I was jaundiced (yellow was not my colour), I also needed a lumbar puncture to find out what was wrong with me. I became very tired from fighting the infection so I had to be ventilated again for a few days. Thankfully it didn't take long for the Doctors and Nurses to make me feel better and get me back on track.
I continued to get better and better until mid February Mummy was allowed to have me sleep beside her in Transitional Care. When I was 10 weeks and 5 days old (37 weeks +5, corrected) after all my trials it was finally time for me to go home for the first time. It was a day we will never ever forget, and it was heart wrenching to say goodbye to the doctors, nurses and friends we had made - and come to rely on - in our ‘bubble’ that was the Neonatal Unit. The Neonatal Unit had quickly become Mummy and Daddy’s home away from home however this was the moment we had been waiting for.
I went home weighing 1700g (3lb 12oz) so I borrowed a special heated water bed called a KanMed to keep me nice and warm in my moses basket. Mummy and Daddy were trained on how to pass a feeding tube because I still was not taking all my feeds by bottle, I would get too tired because my sucking reflex was still very weak. For 4 weeks the lovely hospital community team visited us at home and made sure we were settling in ok. Their last visit was mid March when they took away my comfy mattress - and I weighed in at a massive 4lb 10oz.
And that is the story of my time in the unit.
I am now just 1 week away from my 1st birthday and can’t wait to go to the Neonatal All Stars Christmas Party just 2 days later. I now weigh 12lb 6oz and although I am tiny I still manage to keep my Mummy and Daddy on their toes!
Jasmin x