Mum-to-be Debbie Chapman wasn’t feeling too well, so she went to see her GP.
Four days later, the Wyndham Vale resident left hospital with baby daughter Olivia.
“I went to the doctor to get a medical certificate,” she said. “He checked my signs and told me to go straight to hospital because he said my baby was likely to be born prematurely.
“I was rushed to Sunshine Hospital and then to the Royal Women’s and was told the baby could come tomorrow, next week or in a month and that it would be very small.”
Mrs Chapman was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy disorder characterised by high blood pressure.
She was told that, if left untreated, she could develop life-threatening seizures.
“It was surreal,” she said. “I had no idea about pre-eclampsia and I no idea what to expect.
“I saw the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit and I broke down. I was told at my ultrasound that my baby weighed 700 grams and the babies in intensive care were generally 1.2 kilograms.
“I remember how incredibly small and fragile they looked but my baby was only just over half their size, and that was confronting.”
Olivia was born in December 2012 at 28 weeks and six days, weighing just 810 grams. She had to spend two months in intensive care.
“Luckily, she was able to breathe on her own after only two days, but it was a day-by-day, step-by-step process,” Mrs Chapman said
Olivia is now a healthy and happy toddler.
“She’s still small for her age, but she’s doing well now,” Mrs Chapman said.
On October 26, the Chapman family will again take part in the Life’s Little Treasures Foundation’s Walk For Prems at Albert Park Lake, a fund-raiser which supports parents of premature and sick babies.
For more information, visit : www.walkforprems.org.au.
