Thankful for Simon :: A Miraculous Birth Story

The following is a guest post written by new parents Anna and Benjamin Story.

Vanuatu is a beautiful island paradise, a great holiday destination and our home for the past three years. It’s a great place to live and even raise a family, but it’s definitely not an ideal place for giving birth to a 25 ½ week premature baby. Yet that’s what happened to me on 31st July 2009.      

I went to bed that night with what I thought were cramps and awoke at 2:30 a.m. to find my pajama pants soaked in blood. I quickly woke up my husband, Benjamin, and asked him to help. I was too in shock to be scared, but I knew something was very wrong.  We rushed to the hospital.

A young woman asked if I had any contractions, and I realized I was still having cramps. She gave me a pill to stop labor, and I was also given a shot of steroids for my baby’s lungs in the event that he arrived that day.       

The next few hours were spent waiting to see if the medication to stop the contractions would work. At 5:00 a.m. my last dose was given but my contractions hadn’t stopped.

I was thinking how my baby was coming too early and the Vanuatu hospital didn’t have the equipment for a premature baby.  I also felt guilty, and kept wondering what I had done to go into premature labor.       

Around 7:30 a.m. my contractions got more intense and were about two minutes apart. I thought someone should check to see if I was dilating, but they were waiting for the doctor to arrive.  Finally, my husband told them the baby was ready to come.

Everything happened very quickly after that - before I knew it, my baby boy was lying on my stomach. Since he was so small, the midwives didn’t think he had a chance to live.

Our boy let out a tiny cry and we were surprised as he had first seemed so lifeless. They wrapped him in blankets and gave him to Benjamin to keep warm.  All I could say was, “He’s so small!  It’s so sad!” My husband stood there crying and holding our baby.             

The hospital wasn’t equipped for premature babies, and the incubator wouldn’t heat up properly, so Simon was placed into the incubator on hot water bottles. He continued to receive oxygen through a small tube near his nose.            

During this time, part of me wanted to spend every moment with Simon - thinking perhaps it would be his last. The other part of me wanted to stay away and not get too attached, in case he didn’t make it.

But most of my time was spent sitting near him, encouraging him. “Keep breathing honey, you’re doing so good, baby!” is a phrase I repeated a hundred times that day.      

Sometime around noon, Simon was added to our insurance and we were cleared to fly to Brisbane, Australia. At one point Simon had to be resuscitated, but he quickly began breathing again and things looked hopeful.

The ETA for the rescue plane was 19:30 and we continued to pray and cry and hope. At 19:00 we heard the plane had landed - at that moment Simon stopped breathing for the second time. For the next half hour, until the Australian medical team arrived, Simon had to be resuscitated.

I was grateful for the nurse and doctor keeping him alive, and I thought he just had to make it because he had lasted this long. At 19:30, to everyone’s relief, the doctor and nurse from Australia’s Hospital arrived!      

We were all amazed at the technology they brought: a portable incubator with various monitors and gadgets, which looked quite out of place in the bare and simple hospital room.      

We drove to the airport where the crew waited for us on the runway. Benjamin and I were both allowed to accompany Simon in the medical plane. I was so relieved to be headed to Australia, and so exhausted from the day’s events, that I slept the entire way.      

As I write, at 35 weeks corrected and weighing 2.2 kg (5 lbs), Simon is doing incredibly well. At day 42 (32 weeks corrected) he came off CPAP and moved from NICU to special care five days later. After a couple of days in special care Simon reached 1.8 kg (4 lbs) and was moved into an open cot.  

He is now off of all monitors, which means the doctors are confident of him breathing on his own, and don't need to keep such a close eye on him.  

The only thing left to do before Simon can come out of hospital is to establish a regular feeding routine. Up until now he has continued to feed through a nasal gastric tube, on a 3 hourly schedule. Simon is slowly learning the art of breastfeeding, and we look forward to leaving the hospital soon.

My husband and I have felt immensely supported by friends and family from around the world. Even people we don’t know have emailed to tell us they heard our story and have been praying for our little boy.

(Jamie's note: Thanks for sharing your amazing birth story with us, Anna and Ben. You are all in our prayers as well!)