A Chapel Hill family has shared their whirlwind introduction to parenthood, after their baby girl was born at 26 weeks' gestation, weighing just 848 grams.
Little miracle Sophia Judd wasn’t expected to arrive until March this year, but decided the time was right on 15 December, sending her parents, Elouise and Luke Judd, into a spin.
Ms Judd said there was absolutely no warning.
“I had a placental abruption at 26+5 and from there it was all a bit of a blur,” Ms Judd said.
“It felt like it was one thing after another for Sophia, and then on day four, she had a bowel perforation, which is when she was transferred to Mater so she could undergo emergency surgery.
“I was like, this isn’t happening – it was terrifying.”
Sophia underwent emergency surgery late that night – it was an entirely unexpected situation.
“I’d just given birth, I was in shock, I went into survival mode,” Ms Judd said. “But it was also at that point we knew that she was in it for the long haul.”
Sophia became one of the 1,700 very ill and premature babies to receive round-the-clock specialist care from the team at Mater Mothers’ Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU) each year.
“The staff at the Mater NCCU incredible and they very quickly felt like family,” Ms Judd said.
“The nurses were amazing and became our best friends and the doctors … we just can’t thank them enough. “
The monitoring of Sophia day-in day-out - they saved her life.”
Excitingly, Sophia was able to go home after 94 days in the NCCU, one day after her due date.
“It was nice getting her home – I felt like it was illegal carrying her out of the hospital, it was such a surreal feeling,” Ms Judd said.
“She is still on oxygen, but she’ll continue to be monitored, and, in a few months, we’ll likely have a wireless baby!”
Mater Foundation has long been a proud supporter of the tiniest and most vulnerable patients being cared for at Mater Mothers’ hospitals across Queensland, such as Sophia.
Chief Executive Andrew Thomas said the extraordinary supporters in the community are vital to making this happen.
“Our incredible community has always shown exceptional generosity, and that’s what has allowed us to contribute significant funds towards life-saving equipment, research and education, across our Mater network, including for our most tiny and vulnerable patients” Mr Thomas said.
“Mater Giving Day is a prime example of where this generosity shines – a day where every single dollar donated within a 24-hour period is tripled thanks to our generous matching partners.
“We're urging our supporters to once again dig deep this Giving Day to ensure our impact on thousands of patients across the state is truly remarkable.”
One of the pieces of equipment funded by Mater Foundation fundraising efforts such as Giving Day is a specialised retinal camera used to screen preterm babies’ eyes for early signs of Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP), which, if left untreated, can lead to long-term visual limitations or blindness.
In good news, Sophia has recently been tested for RoP using the equipment.
“She just graduated from the eye clinic, and her eyes are now clear of the disease, which is really positive,” Ms Judd said.
“And Sophia has also just hit 5 kilograms, so she’s ticking all of her milestones.”
The bubbly six-month-old is thriving and continues to astound her parents with her resilience and constant state of joy.
“She’s a very happy little girl,” Ms Judd said.
“She’s mastered smiling, we’re starting to hear the start of a giggle.
“Honestly, given everything she’s been through she’s just so happy – it’s unbelievable.”
To support care for babies like Sophia, donations to Mater’s Giving Day can be made online at www.mater.org.au/givingday until 26 June.
