Read the inspirational stories of courage and fight for survival from these amazing premature babies born at 30 weeks gestation throughout Australia including advice from their parents.
Premmie Babies Name: Anneliese Bethany
Gestation Born: 30+4 weeks
Weight When Born: 1680g (3lb 110z)
Length When Born: 40cm
Current Age: 3 years
Current Weight Now: 15kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: My daughter was lucky, she was born breathing, and only really needed to fatten up! She is a very clever, talkative little girl, who is looking forward to starting kindy in the new year 
Advice From Parents: Keep a daily journal while in the NICU/SCN. leave it under your bubs cot, and ask the nurses to write in it if possible. Its a lovely thing to look back and see how far they have come… and take pictures. they will amaze you when you look back and see how far they have come, especially since that time in the nursery feels never ending
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Premmie Babies Name: Keira Grace
Gestation Born: 30 weeks
Weight When Born: 1495 grams
Length When Born: 39.5cms
Current Age: 10 and half months
Current Weight Now: 8.4 kgs
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Progressive hearing loss. Upper respiratory viral infection. After 10 months no more physio is required. Opthamologist check ups every 6 months. Attending an early intervention prgramme.
Advice From Parents: To take each day as it comes
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Premmie Babies Name: Mila Lucia
Gestation Born: 30+1 weeks
Weight When Born: 1500 grams
Length When Born: 38.5 cm
Current Age: 23.5 months
Current Weight Now: 9 kgs
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Mila so far has not required any specialist care eg: speech therapy, physio. She has reached her milestones as per her actual age not corrected. She sat at 7 months, crawled at 8 months, walked at 14 months and is currently speaking in 2 – 3 word sentences. The only ongoing issue she is facing is slow weight gains, which we are trying to overcome by eating a very high fat diet (lucky her)
Advice From Parents: You receive so much conflicting advice from different doctors / nurses, pick a few that you trust and listen to what they say.
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Premmie Babies Name: Brendan Ryan
Gestation Born: 30+1 weeks
Weight When Born: 1545gm 3lb 6oz
Length When Born: 40.5cm
Current Age: 37 months
Current Weight Now: 12kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Poor immune system, constantly sick with colds, gastro, flu, ect. Thankfully nothing serious(touch wood). Speech and Language Delay, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Hyperactivity, Ear Problems, re-occurring Ear Infections. Brendan sees a Speech Pathologist, Occupational Therapist, Child Health Nurse, Paediatrician, Child Psychologist, Ophthalmologist and GP. He is on the waiting list for ENT. He is a very energetic 3 year old and loves to run run run!
Advice From Parents: Take LOTS of pictures. Keep a diary. Stand up for yourself and your baby, dont let the nurses and dr’s push you around just because they are looking after your baby. Take people up on their offers to help.
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Premmie Babies Name: Reilly Taylor
Gestation Born: 30 + 6 weeks
Weight When Born: 1.859 kg
Length When Born: 46 cm
Current Age: 13 months
Current Weight Now: 10 kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Reilly is doing fantastic, he is crawling, standing up against the furniture, has walked a few steps with aide and eats well, couldn’t be happier with him, he is in the 50th percentile for his actual age in weight, height and head circumference.
Advice From Parents: Hang in there, it is tough but they do catch up and lead a perfectly normal life. There is also always plenty of support and please use it.
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Premmie Babies Name: Quinlan
Gestation Born: 30 weeks
Weight When Born: 1.5 kilos
Length When Born: 40 cm
Current Age: 2 years
Current Weight Now: 12.5 kilos
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Quinlan is a happy and healthy toddler with an inquisitive nature. He has no ongoing health issues.
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Premmie Babies Name: Freya Heather
Gestation Born: 30 weeks
Weight When Born: 1.37 kg
Length When Born: 40.5 cm
Current Age: 9 and half months
Current Weight Now: 7.5 kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Freya is our miracle baby. On day 28 in special care nursery a routine head ultrasound showed two PVL cysts on the left side of her brain. Previous head ultrasounds showed no signs of bleeding. We were of course devastated and worried sick. However, not for one second did we let this diagnosis take away our love and excitement of having our baby girl. She is doing remarkable well and currently at corrected age of 7 months can use both hands and legs well. She has great neck control and is almost rolling over! We see a physio twice monthly and have an OT appointment booked. Her smiles and laughter bring so much joy. It’s worrying that she may have cerebral palsy. The not knowing is the hardest. But we take one day at a time and look at all the great things she can do.
Advice From Parents: Try not to use Dr Google too much!! Every baby is different and there is always hope
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Premmie Babies Name: William
Gestation Born: 30+1 weeks
Weight When Born: 1502 grams
Length When Born: -
Current Age: 8.5mths
Current Weight Now: 5.11kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: William has struggled with with weight gain and is currently being fattened up (which is hopefully working), and has hearing loss due to a middle ear problem, a trip to the ENT specialist is next on the todo list and possibly grommets. He has also had repeat Upper respitory tract infections (usually mild, with no major issues).
Advice From Parents: Journal, journal, JOURNAL! – in words and in photos/video! you never know when your memeory will fail you and if you write it all down its there when you need it!.
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Premmie Babies Name: Caleb S
Gestation Born: 30+2
Weight When Born: 1548grms
Length When Born: 36cm
Current Age: 3mths
Current Weight Now: 4kilos
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Well he come out amazing looking well just very tiny. and need to gain alot of weight.. he come home at 35wks gest end up back in hospital at 37wks gest bronchiolitis and got the bad one respiratory syntactical virus (RSV) and he did not breath on his own for 18days and all so he got pneumonia and lung virus as well…but he got out at full term 2wks but now he is 3mths 13wks and doing amazing still breathing a little hard but doing great…
Advice From Parents: Go with your gut feels if you feel doc/nurse are not good or not tell you info talk up or you will have a very hard time staying there allday
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Premmie Babies Name: Lachlan
Gestation Born: 30 weeks +1 day
Weight When Born: 1700grams
Length When Born: 40cm
Current Age: 5 1/2 months
Current Weight Now: 5.9kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Lachlan is doing very well and has breast feed great from when he was in hospital he just needs to continue to put on weight and grow. He did suffer from a little reflux in the 1st few months.
Advice From Parents: It is very hard to leave your baby in the hospital each day however i look back now and it did actually go quite quick. Also if you can persvere with the expressing it is wonderful to be able to breastfeed. Also be careful that Nan’s etc tell you that your baby should be doing more for his age your baby is premmie therefore will take longer to do things.
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Premature Babies Name: Bryce Jackson
Gestation Born: 30 weeks + 6 days
Weight When Born: 1760 grams
Length When Born: 42.5cm
Current Age: 8 months
Current Weight Now: 9kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: Only issues we had during Bryce’s hospital stay were jaundice and getting his oxygen sats to stabilise. He was discharged at 37 weeks + 4 days and the only ongoing issue we have is positional talipes for which he is having small amount of physio…. apart from that he hasn’t even had a head cold! And to look at our fatty boombah now you would never know he was a premmie
Advice From Parents: Keep a journal!!!! I didn’t think to do this as every day seemed like groundhog day, but it is something I regret now 
You’ll be amazed at how much you forget. Also take lots of photos – we had over 1000 by the time Bryce came home Trust your doctors and nurses, but remember it is YOUR baby.
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Premature Babies Name: Keelia
Gestation Born: 30 weeks
Weight When Born: 3lb 3oz (1.3kg)
Length When Born: 41.5cm
Current Age: 4 years
Current Weight Now: 17.8kg
Babies Outlook/Ongoing Issues: She was born at 30 weeks due to me developing pre-eclampsia. She was in NICU for 2 weeks and then in the nursery for 5 weeks. She suffered a punctured lung due to the oxygen she was given, but put weight on right from birth. Luckily the only ongoing problem she has is regular eye check-ups. You would not know to look at her that she was a premmie
Advice From Parents: It’s a very emotionally and physically challenging experience. Having plenty of support from a loving partner, family and friends is essential. Be persistant with medical staff, as it’s your baby and you know them best.
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