Baby Fern, a positive and inspiring story of a NICU journey with a baby born at just 26 weeks.

I've always said I wanted to include every type of birth on my blog and was delighted when the lovely Fiona suggested doing a little feature on their NICU experience. Supporting a Mum with a tiny preemie baby wasn't something any of my training to date prepared me for. But Fi made it so easy with her incredible positive mental attitude, she sent me regular updates to let me know how everyone was doing and spread so much of her positive energy, it was hard to feel anything else but immensely proud of them all!

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Nothing within that was in our plans but we had incredible care from the team at Salisbury in those first few hours before being transferred to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, given Fern's gestational age.

An emergency c-section is never really in anyone’s birth plan, neither is an extended stay in a NICU – but despite that I have incredibly fond memories of the amazing midwife team that looked after me so wonderfully and the fantastic neonatal nurses who cared for Fern whilst also making us feel so involved. 

I remember throughout the whole process just thinking take each thing as it comes, there is no point worrying about what if, but dealing with each situation as it presented itself helped keep me grounded and feeling in control of what I could control, and letting go of the things we had no control over. 

After 4 weeks in Portsmouth we were transferred back to Salisbury. Despite arriving in the middle of the night we had such a warm welcome - it really did feel like coming home. Everyone in the team was genuinely excited to see us back, hear about our experiences and support us in the next stage of Fern's journey. 

Over 5 weeks in Salisbury we navigated coming off oxygen, establishing feeding and building an incredible bond through lots of lovely cuddles with our daughter - all underpinned by a hugely supportive team. At just after 36 weeks we made it home, many a tear was shed about reaching such a milestone, and we'll be forever grateful for the care we all received in getting to that point. 

February marks a year of Fern – it’s been an absolute rollercoaster but we couldn’t be  prouder of the happy little girl that she is and the support we’ve had to get to this point. Spending any amount of time in the NICU is never what’s planned but for many people whether it’s a few hours after birth, a couple of days or a few months as was the case for us, knowing that we were receiving the very best care helped make the process and the journey easier. "