A mother's worst nightmare: Yasmine's story and the reality of preterm birth
Born 15 weeks early, Ava weighed little more than a tub of butter when she came into the world.
Her tiny hands were no bigger than her parents' wedding rings and her fragile little body could fit in the palm of their hands. Born weighing 580 grams, she was small yet mighty enough to tackle the complex challenges a marathon 101-day stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit would bring for the brave micro preemie.
Ava's sudden introduction to the world was a life-and-death decision made by the world-class team of experts at Perth's King Edward Memorial Hospital. Up until three days prior to her hurried delivery via emergency classical caesarean section under a general anaesthetic, her mum Yasmine Phillips had experienced a smooth pregnancy where the expected side effects like morning sickness brought much comfort.
But a sudden onset of excruciating rib pain that would come and go, and bouts of vomiting, prompted Yasmine to visit a Geraldton emergency department while visiting relatives for Christmas. Doctors hoped it was merely festive food poisoning but warned they were preparing for a worst-case scenario of HELLP Syndrome, an uncommon and severe form of pre-eclampsia that can lead to life-threatening complications for both mother and baby.
For the safety of the unborn baby and mother, the pair were flown to Perth via the Royal Flying Doctor Service and transferred to KEMH where Yasmine's condition quickly declined, a HELLP Syndrome diagnosis was confirmed and a life-saving decision was made to deliver Ava.
'Those early days and weeks in the NICU were some of the most terrifying moments you can imagine,' Yasmine said.
'There was so much uncertainty and fear, and many worrying thoughts as we watched Ava breathing through a ventilator, covered in wires and confined to an incubator.'
Ava is one of more than 26,000 premature babies born in Australia every year with one in every twelve pregnancies ending too early.
'During Ava's three-and-a-half months in the NICU, it became like a second home to us and we felt so blessed to have had such an amazing team of people caring for our daughter who really celebrated every milestone and felt deeply every low,' Phillips said.
Chair of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance Professor John Newnham explains that preterm birth is the leading cause of death and disability in children up to five years of age in the developed world.
'Preterm birth is defined as birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy whilst early term birth is the 14-day period between 37 and 39 weeks of pregnancy,' he said.
In March of this year the Australian Government announced it was continuing its investment in Australia's world-first national program to safely reduce rates of early birth with $5.3 million to expand the Every Week Counts National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative.
'This program, which has been adopted in maternity hospitals all over Australia, brings together health professionals, First Nations leaders, quality improvement experts and those with a lived experience, to improve pregnancy outcomes for more women across the country,' Professor Newnham said.
Driven by the potentially life-long consequences of prematurity and HELLP Syndrome, Yasmine has joined the effort to help raise awareness of preterm birth.
Almost four years after the early arrival of Ava, she welcomed another little girl into the world. Sage spent a week in the NICU in the bed right next to where Ava spent the first few months of her life.
Due to the complications from her first pregnancy, doctors deemed it safest for Yasmine's second baby girl to be delivered at 37 weeks. But even with her experience, she stresses that nothing quite prepares you for a newborn baby being taken away to the NICU while you are stuck in recovery from a caesarean section.
'When we made it to our planned delivery date at 37 weeks, I thought everything had gone to plan this time around, so I took Sage's transferto the NICU really hard,' Yasmine said.
'Whether a baby spends one day, a week or 15 weeks in the NICU, there is an all-consuming worry that will not rest until everyone is hopefully home safe and under the one roof together.'
Identifying the early warning signs and providing timely interventions are critical to preventing preterm birth and its far-reaching impacts. To learn more about The Every Week Counts National Program, and the strategies being implemented to lower rates of early birth and make pregnancies safer for all women and babies, you can
visit the Every Week Counts website
.
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