See a Miracle baby born at 25 weeks: "She weighed just more than a brick of butter"

This is a long but beautiful read, explaining baby Gem's stay in NICU in fantastic detail. It's really worth the read if you have pre-eclampsia or a preemie in NICU. It also sheds light on the miracle of life, the incredible work of the NICU staff and the wow technology available these days. Then read Michelle's moving letter to the NICU nurse . Grab a cup of tea and dig in!
FROM A READER:
When I found out I was pregnant a fourth time, I was over the moon but at the same time a little nervous as I battled with very high blood pressure. My husband and I had already experienced the NICU as our eldest was born at 34 weeks, our twins were born at 28 weeks and our little girl was also born at 34 weeks.
Our twins spent 9 and a half weeks in NICU. Our little girl, the stronger one, got critically ill from a freak blood clot in her small bowel; she was operated on too late, and ended up with necrosis. I held her for over three days and when her organs eventually gave in and her heart stopped, she passed away in my arms. So having gone through quite a bit, we never expected another long NICU journey and nothing could have prepared us for what lay ahead.
A bumpy pregnancy
We found out it was a girl and were thrilled, she was healthy and growing. But at 16 weeks my blood pressure was climbing.
At 18 weeks I was hospitalised, then told to try and take it easy, which was challenging as I’m a teacher and had little ones of my own.
At 22 weeks I was back in hospital for bleeding. My heart sunk, my gynae put me on bed rest for a few days with meds, but she never told me how close I came to losing my baby.
24 weeks: back to hospital for two days to control my very high blood pressure. By now I had a lot of protein in my urine, baby’s growth was slowing down and my gynae said we were heading for pre-eclampsia.

At 25 weeks I was again admitted to hospital and this time my gynae said it was too dangerous for me and my baby to leave the hospital again. I just burst into tears, I was so scared. The NICU got ready for her emergency delivery and prepared a little space for her. A special Giraffe Omnibed was ordered. Each day she stayed inside me was a bonus.
I developed very bad HELLP syndrome with renal failure, low blood enzymes and a swollen liver. My head felt like it wanted to pop and I developed swollen membranes in my brain. I went for numerous foetal assessments during the week. The blood flow to baby was restricted and she was not gaining much weight.
The Friday morning I felt terrible, dizzy, sick... and the gynae and physician made the call. Today was the day our baby girl would be delivered. I was taken to the labour ward and given a magnesium sulphate drip to protect my little one’s brain during delivery. I was told it would help guard against bleeding on the brain and cerebral palsy.
There she was: our micro-preemie baby girl at 25 weeks
At 12:25 on 11 September 2015, little Gemma Lily Tito came into the world at 25 weeks gestation, weighing only 715 grams. She let out a few little squeaks, that’s all I heard, and she was whisked away. I went from theatre to ICU.
We nearly lost her after birth as her mouth was so small they battled to get the ventilator in and when they did, her heart rate dropped drastically and they battled to stabilise her.
My husband was allowed to see her only hours later once they had her stabilised. I only saw her briefly the following evening. She was tiny!

There were so many machines and gadgets, so many beeps and low lights, drips and wires and tubes and a central line through her navel. It was hard to see her.
She was on a ventilator to provide oxygen, various drips including heparin (blood thinner), a temperature monitor, a heart rate monitor, an apnea monitor to check her breathing.
She was translucent, as the “brown fat” under her skin, the layer that keeps us warm, had not had a chance to develop yet, so you could see her veins and rib cage. Her ears were floppy as the cartilage hadn’t developed. Her fingernails and toenails were absent. She was covered in hair (lanugo).
Her nappy was teeny tiny, it fitted a Barbie doll. She looked so fragile.
I was very overwhelmed to see this little person fighting for her life and I felt so helpless.
Fighting for survival
Her first poo on the night she was born was a huge celebration and that she was weeing was important. She was on a total parenteral nutrition (TPN) drip for nourishment.
Days later she started on 0,1ml of breast milk through a nasal tube. But her kidneys weren’t working properly, she had fluid retention and then weed too much. She was quite swollen at one point.
The TPN line was also a risk of infection so it was vital to change her to solely breast milk – and she tolerated it.
Her electrolytes were all over the place and had to be monitored be very closely. A few times she was losing too much nutrients and salts and it became dangerous so she had to have sodium infusions.
Her weight fell to 660 grams before she started picking up again.......