This is part 1 of a 3 part series.

Early in 2010 my husband Russell, our 3 children and I moved to Australind. Not long after our move we found out were were expecting baby number 4. The next few months were smooth sailing pregnancy wise until...

On the morning of September 27 2010 I was lying in bed, awake, feeling baby kicking. I commented to Russell that baby was kicking a lot and took his hand to feel my tummy. Right at that moment I felt a warm trickle and jumped out of bed for the toilet. By the time I sat down my pyjama bottoms were soaked and I said to Russell that I thought my waters had broken. We were both in disbelief. I was only 24 weeks pregnant!

I called the hospital and threw a few things in a bag whilst Russell got the kids some breakfast, then I drove myself to hospital. I'd actually never been to the hospital before and needed a couple of goes to find it. When I finally arrived I got out of the car and there was a big gush, and at that moment I knew for sure that my waters had really broken. I think I had been in denial up until that point! I made my way into the hospital and found the maternity ward. I spoke with a lovely midwife who was most helpful and got me settled before the Dr arrived. They both made it clear that I had to be transported to Perth, to King Edward ASAP and they had already put in a call to the Royal Flying Doctor Service to airlift me. They did not have adequate facilities for a 25 week baby at St John of God Bunbury or Bunbury Regional Hospital and given my 1 hour 15 min labour with my third baby there was some panic that things might progress rapidly.

I managed to phone Russell and through the tears let him know the situation and asked him to call my Mum in the city and make arrangements to head to Perth with the children. Meanwhile I swallowed meds to stop contractions, was swabbed for Strep B which I had with 2 previous pregnancies, had blood taken and had an injection of steroids to help babies lungs produce surfactant.

A few hours later I was transported via ambulance from the hospital to the airstrip, then flown to Perth and again transported by ambulance from Jandakot airstrip to King Edward. I was assessed and admitted on arrival, more blood was taken along with another swab and I was advised I was now on strict bedrest. That night I hardly slept a wink.

The next morning I was taken off for an ultrasound to check on baby and make sure he was OK. Thankfully he was OK, but the scan showed there was no amniotic fluid left and that baby was a footling breech. Later than morning the team of Dr's assigned to me attended and advised that as baby was a footling breech I would need to have a cesarean when the time came if he remained in that position. Further they advised as baby was only 25 weeks it would need to be a classical cesarean as there wouldn't be enough room otherwise. I signed the consent required and asked what the averages were like for women in my position. How long did they normally last before the baby was born? I was told the reality is generally they last not longer than 1 week. I received another injection of steroids to help babies lungs.

The following day, we are now at Wednesday 29 September Russell and I decided that if we made it to the following Tuesday for another wellness scan on baby we would find out if we were having a boy or a girl. We also decided that if baby arrived in the meantime we selected the unisex name Adison. Just as well we had that discussion!! At 3.45am the following morning I got up to go to the bathroom. When I got back into bed I felt a very strange sensation, like there was something there that shouldn't be, then it started flapping about! I pressed the call bell as I was concerned and waited for a midwife. While I was waiting the flapping got worse and I grew more concerned. I hit the emergency bell and immediately half a dozen midwives flew into the room. I explained that I could feel what I thought by this time must be a foot flapping about where it shouldn't be. They called a 'Code Blue' and whisked me out of my room and down to theatre in the blink of an eye. When we got to theatre they checked and sure enough there was a little foot prolapsed.

They had just enough time to give me a spinal block which meant I was awake for the operation and Adison was born via classical c-section at 4.04am. He weighed 865g was 34cm long and a head circumference of 23cm. I was able to give him a quick kiss on the forehead as he was taken to the NICU for attention. His Apgar scores were 6 and 8 so he was going ok, but going to need lots of help. Unfortunately Russell missed his birth and arrived at the hospital as the nurse handed me the phone to tell him our baby was a boy.

The balance of the day was a complete blur. When they removed the spinal block I received a loading dose of morphine which had me fuzzy and asleep until 4pm. At that time I started expressing for my little man and when Russell came back to the hospital that evening I visited the NICU and was able to see him properly for the very first time.

This is only the beginning of our story.

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