Nothing can prepare you for the advice “if he comes now, there’s not much we can do…” At 24 weeks, there was a problem with the pregnancy, and the doc was pretty direct. Immediate bedrest was prescribed.
Very early on 17 December 2011, after holding out for almost 2 weeks, Angus decided he’d had enough and couldn’t wait any longer and contractions started getting stronger. The doctors let us know that there wasn’t anything they could do to hold him off and although we’d already had steroid injections a couple of days earlier to give Angus the best chances, they were still concerned that his lungs wouldn’t have fully developed.
At 0800am on 17 December 2011 at 26 weeks and 6 days and after 4 hours of contractions, the doc decided it was time to take action. At approximately 0820am Angus announced to the world he was here with a very unexpected little squeal. Although he was 13 weeks premature, he was a good size at 1.13kg but he had a long way to go. Like most born this early he had an extended stay at the Newborn Intensive Care Unit – Canberra (NICU) of almost 8 weeks, and despite all of the ups and downs, infections, heart concerns and blood transfusions, Angus kept fighting.
Without the help of the amazing staff at the NICU, we could have had a very different result. Even with a tough start to life, Angus keeps going strong and I am so thoroughly grateful.
Now almost 7 years on, we still joke that Angus just didn’t want to miss Christmas.