It’s impossible to imagine the challenges that come with a premature baby.
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That terrifying situation happened not once, but twice, for Albury parents Erin and Andrew Baxter.
Their son William, now 2, was born at 35 weeks and spent several weeks in Wodonga’s Special Care Nursery (SCN) where he was tube fed due to a poor suck reflex and snuggled in an isolette to regulate his body temperature.
As first-time parents, Mrs Baxter said it’s “pretty scary” to watch your baby face health issues and struggle with their breathing and feeding.
It’s also a foreign feeling to leave hospital without your baby in tow.
But with the expert care and support from the specialist medical and nursing staff at Wodonga Hospital’s SCN, Mrs Baxter was able to take home a healthy breast-fed baby.
However the Baxters certainly didn’t expect a second stint in the nursery when daughter Charlotte was born recently at 37 weeks.
“We thought with this one we’d be ready to rock ‘n’ roll,” Mrs Baxter said.
“With both babies I experienced pregnancy induced hypertension and Charlotte had some difficulty breathing and feeding so she spent 8 days in the nursery too.”
Mrs Baxter said she’d never envisioned her babies would need to stay in hospital after they were born.
“And to have it happen twice,” she laughed.
“But the experience was made so much easier knowing we were all in such good hands.”
Mrs Baxter is sharing her story to support Wear Green for Premmies Day on April 5.
The Wodonga Maternity Unit will hold a fundraising stall in its antenatal room from 9.30am until 1pm with home-made baked goods and preserves as well as hand-crafted baby and children’s clothes on sale to support its special care nursery.
The public is welcome to attend while former patients of the nursery (bubs and their mums, dads, family and friends) are sure to be given a particularly warm welcome.
In January this year, Wodonga topped The L’il Aussie Prems Foundation online poll for the best special care nursery in the country.
Mrs Baxter said the community was lucky to have a facility of this calibre in its midst.
“We are grateful this level of care was available to us in a regional area, where we could still access the support of family and friends,” she said.
