Conrad Scorsis was born a fighter. He had to be, emerging into the world 14 weeks and three days early.
His arrival on June 22 last year shocked first-time Wyndham Vale parents Bree, 30, and Victor, 37, who had planned to take prenatal classes the next month.
“When Conrad came into the world he came out kicking and crying – we knew we had a fighter on our hands,” Bree says.
The 884-gram baby was put into a neonatal incubator, but Bree says it happened in such a rush “we couldn’t believe that we had a baby.”
She extracted milk via a pump in a ward where other mothers nursed their children, while Conrad was in an incubator “connected to so many machines”, fighting “day by day, minute by minute”.
Bree remembers the importance of “kangaroo care”, where the miniature boy, measuring 33 centimetres, was handed to her for “skin on skin” contact and she felt her son on her chest.
The new parents rode a rollercoaster – any infection could hospitalise, or kill, Conrad.
The Scorsis family trained in first-aid before Conrad came home in September, not realising that one day it would save his life. Soon after he arrived home, Conrad “went purple and stopped breathing” but Victor revived him with CPR.
“In one split second I felt like I was going to lose him,’’ Victor says. ‘‘After a few attempts of breathing into his lungs and compressions, our little boy was back.”
Conrad had an infection that shut his body down and saw him hospitalised for 20 days before he returned home in October. This was one of many visits to hospital.
“Although he is going great, thriving at eight kilograms, we still need to be vigilant in terms of germs,’’ Bree says.
‘‘The Life’s Little Treasures Foundation for premmies in Wyndham means we can take Conrad to a place where people realise we are putting him in cotton wool to save his life.”
» Life’s Little Treasures is holding a one-off Saturday meeting for parents who can’t attend its regular weekday meetings. It will be on Saturday, April 12, at Yerambooee Community Centre, Hoppers Crossing, from 10am to 3pm.
» 0448 839 717
