Meet Oscar!

We got this amazing letter from Oscar’s mum, Sarah, about his arrival into the world.

“I’d like to introduce you to Oscar. We welcomed him into the world on 30 January this year, very early at 27 weeks. The night before he came I felt him drop and said to my partner, jokingly, ‘Feels like Oscar will come tomorrow.’ His reply? ‘Don’t be silly, I’ve got TAFE all week.’

The next morning when I woke up I was completely dilated and had to jump in an ambulance with my two-year-old (born at 34.5 weeks) and get straight to hospital. I had to lie down all day trying to make it to 12 hours so another lot of steroids could be given to help his little lungs. He was lying sideways, which was the only thing that saved him coming even earlier. Eventually the doctors turned him. After the eleventh hour little Oscar decided he wasn’t waiting any longer and into the world he came. First though, he popped his head out, stopping with the contractions for a good seven minutes just looking around at the world. It was a surreal experience for all.

After letting out the cry we all needed to hear, he was rushed to the table, bagged to keep warm and worked on. I wasn’t allowed to give him a cuddle – I just hovered while he was whisked away to NICU.

After being born, Oscar was put on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), but soon after we were told he needed to be ventilated. He stayed on it for the next four weeks.

I got my first cuddle after 15 days. The next was 10 days later. Then it was another six.

Oscar endured a PDA ligation (heart valve surgery) at three weeks that helped with his breathing enough for him to get back on CPAP at four weeks. He continued to need that until the Easter weekend when he graduated to high flow.

It was so exciting the day we found out he was moving to an open cot. These were the big milestones we loved.

All the stress, however, meant I was run down and I ended up with a mild case of shingles. It was heartbreaking because it meant I couldn’t see my little man until I was no longer contagious. That took 11 days. On the tenth day I received a phone call from the hospital telling me Oscar was unwell and had a runny nose. When he was tested for infections, there was a positive reading for whooping cough. My only thought was how my little man managed to get, of all things, whooping cough in NICU. He was rushed to isolation, while everyone who had been around him, including us, was tested. Two days later I got the OK to go and see him. They’d had two positives on his tests, but they’d both been false and he was fine. What a relief! It was just a cold and was moved back to his open cot.

We had ups and downs most days, but thankfully towards the end of Oscar’s stay in hospital there were more ups. Most NICU mums will have experienced those ‘one step forward, 10 steps back’ times.

Our little prince has now been home with us a few days after spending a huge 107 days residing in NICU and SCN, and I’m over the moon. He was more than ready to come home for a while, but his low-flow breathing held him back. We’ve also brought home a concentrator machine to help him, and use portable bottles when we go out.

Oscar now weighs a huge 4.3 kilograms. We are continuing with hospital in the home and he’ll keep having Oximetry tests to see how long he’ll need supplemental oxygen. We’ve also been referred to a hearing specialist, as his test had an unclear reading. Of all things that could have gone wrong, this definitely doesn’t feel like a huge issue. I know he can hear – he responds to us, as well as cars and trucks that go past – it’s just not clear exactly how much.

We are loving watching him grow and change every day, and are so lucky to have known him for an extra few months than we’d anticipated. We’re the luckiest family in the world. Oscar is such a little fighter and definitely meant to be here.”

If you’d like to nominate an Earlybird of the Month, please send an email with their photo and a brief story to info@earlybirds.com.au. Your early bird could win one of our beautiful outfits.