Spontaneous labour at 32 weeks - Celia's story

I went into spontaneous labour at 32 weeks. Having had a 17 week miscarriage last year we were under consultant care so I called the hospital and said I thought I was losing my mucus plug. I went in and they had a look and I was at 4cm. The baby was breach so we signed the forms for a section.

When they said the baby would be taken to the special care unit I remember saying ‘after cuddles though?’ and was told it would be straight away. I was stunned and my husband still chuckles at my response to it…’but skin to skin is vital for bonding, have you not read the books?’

A midwife poked her head round the curtain to tell us we had a boy and then he was gone. We wrote our phone numbers on post it notes and waited for the SCBU to text us some pictures while we tried to process what was happening.

Hamish was on CPAP but a pretty healthy weight, but they broke his arm getting him out and that was an issue because it couldnt be bandaged because his entire upper arm was only a few cm long. He spent 3 weeks in SCBU managing to come off oxygen after 4 days and out of his incubator after 10.

We threw ourselves into nappy changes and tube feeding just to feel like parents, and facetimed our 3 year old daughter (Hope) every day so she could see him. We were in from about 9am until 4pm every day and made full use of the snack room on the Ward.

When he was discharged (still with his NG tube) our daughter was thrilled to finally meet him. He’s now 12 weeks, 4 weeks corrected, and is exclusively breastfed. His sister adores him and so we do. I wish we hadn’t had the journey we did, but we made it through. "

My advice for parents is to try and be there for ward rounds, ask questions and talk to Bliss.