And, suddenly, there was our baby.
My nurse said my placenta is low, which is what caused the bleed, but she also said that it will correct itself. We left beaming: my pregnancy was okay!
Some days I felt fine, other days I felt dreadful, and I only had morning sickness once (I’ll never like orange juice again). We found out at 20 weeks we were expecting a baby girl. But by 26 weeks, I felt really bad. My back was in so much pain but I continued and still went to work. Half an hour into my shift, I went to the toilet to see there were clots and blood. I panicked and phoned my midwife. She told me to get straight to the hospital.
My partner had the green notebook and off we went (again). I got to the hospital shaking and in pain. The doctor examined me and said I was 3cm dilated and my waters had gone. I was in so much panic when the doctor said there wasn't the equipment at this hospital to help my baby and we would need a transfer. I wanted to stay where I was, but also to make sure that we could get the best care for our baby.
I had a steroid injection to help and a magnesium drip. By that evening we were being transferred to Stoke-on-Trent, which is around 100 miles away.
My thoughts were all panicked because we really didn't know what was going to happen. We arrived at Stoke-on-Trent Hospital where I had three days of pushing with nothing but pain.
On the third day, the baby's heart rate dropped. I was rushed into theatre for an emergency c-section.
When I woke up, wow! I felt like I was hit by a bus. But I finally had my miracle, born 9th June 2019 at 11.14 am. She has been fighting ever since.
My experience on the neonatal unit is one I’ll never forget. There’s so much noise from all the ringing of the machines, I was suffering from an infection from the C-section and my baby had to have a small operation from having air on her lungs.