Eadie’s story

Like all new parents, Sarah-Jayne and Michael knew their baby would be something special—but they didn't realise just how much of a miracle she would really be.

After two years of trying to fall pregnant, due to endometriosis complications, Sarah-Jayne was finally told she would be a mother. But at her 20 week scan, she was diagnosed with stage four Placenta Previa—her placenta was completely covering her cervix. This is an extremely dangerous diagnosis. 

Seven weeks later, Sarah-Jayne suffered a bleed while at work and was rushed to Mater Mother’s Hospitals and kept under observation for two days. "This was a really stressful time for us,” said Sarah-Jayne. “27 weeks would have been really early to have our baby."

Little did they know, in just three weeks Sarah-Jayne and Michael would become parents.

On 30 July, Sarah-Jayne and Michael were relaxing and watching TV when Sarah-Jayne experienced another bleed—except this time, it was much bigger. If she lost too much blood, her baby wouldn’t be able to survive. They had to act fast.

Michael called an ambulance and they were rushed to Mater Mothers’ Hospitals, lights and sirens the whole way. "I kept asking the ambulance officers 'are we going to Mater? Are we going to Mater?’” recalls Sarah-Jayne. “Even in my state of shock I knew that if anything happened, we were going to the best place."

“Upon arrival, Mater staff decided that my baby needed to be delivered immediately. My placenta had come away from my uterus and I was losing too much blood.

"I was rushed into theatre. Within a few minutes, there were people everywhere; doing everything they could for me. Considering how stressful it was, I was calm knowing that I was in the best maternity hospital possible."

Baby Eadie was born at 10:36pm that night, weighing just 1470 grams, andremained in Mater’s Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU) for 52 days. During this time she had several medical interventions to keep her alive. 

“If it wasn’t for the specialist equipment, doctors and nurses at Mater, I’d hate to think what might have happened," said Sarah-Jayne. “Every piece of equipment in Mater’s NCCU is specialised and specific to supporting premature babies.

“Thanks to the support of generous donors, babies like Eadie who are born and cared for at Mater can receive the best possible start to life."

"We always knew our baby was a miracle, but now she's a Mater little miracle too!"

This week, you can play a role in helping researchers improve the outcomes for babies born prematurely by buying one of our hospital-developed, Australian made* Mater Baby Products’ range with 25% off^ or making a donation to Mater Little Miracles. All proceeds and funds raised will support life-changing neonatal research happening right now at Mater.

Every dollar raised, no matter how small, will go a long way towards helping Mater researchers in the fight to prevent premature birth.

For babies like Eadie, your support can make all the difference.

 

*Except size 0 nappies.

^Offer available 12.11.19 to 17.11.19 only via materbabyprodutcts.com.au. Use code BABY25 at checkout to apply discount. Free shipping Australia-wide for orders over $100. Only while stocks last. Limits apply.