Ipswich mum’s heartache over 500 gram baby born four months early

A Queensland mum has shared her heartache over her tiny baby, born just days after being considered ‘viable’. “It was honestly really emotional … I kind of felt numb.”

Tiny Oliver Bate-Brown was born at 24 weeks and weighed only 520 grams.

It's hard to imagine how impossibly tiny a baby born just days after being considered ‘viable’ could be, but one Ipswich mum knows first-hand.

When Erika Brown’s water broke at just 23 weeks, she had no idea what to expect and was faced with some of the most overwhelming and challenging emotions a mum-to-be could be dealt.

She and her partner had only had a single midwife appointment and had only just found out their baby’s gender — they hadn’t picked a name and they certainly hadn’t yet started to prepare for their little miracle to enter the world.

After arriving at Ipswich hospital, Erika knew she wanted doctors to do whatever they could to save her baby when he was born.

“The doctors and I had a discussion about what I wanted to do and I told them that I wanted full resus(citation). I was only 1cm dilated so they gave me an injection to hopefully stop or slow down labour,” she said.

But just one week later, after Ms Brown was rushed to the Mater Mothers’ Hospital in Brisbane, at 7.31pm on June 25, little Ollie arrived earthside weighing a mere 520 grams.

Brave little Oliver Bate-Brown.

“It was honestly really emotional … I kind of felt numb. The unknown was really scary and I didn’t know how to feel,” Ms Brown said.

“I was just really scared and sad. Like, why won’t my body do this for him, why can’t I just keep him safe?

“Things started to go bad at about 4.30pm, I started having contractions and then his heart rate was dropping and they took me straight in for an emergency C-section.”

She was put under general anaesthetic and in just 16 minutes, Ollie was born.

But being under anaesthetic had big impacts on Ms Brown, leaving her groggy and disoriented and when she woke up she couldn’t remember where her baby had gone.

“I was on a mission, I just needed to see him. I kept thinking ‘where's my baby? where's my baby?’

“Then I remembered he was in the NICU. It’s really hard to remember now …”

The difficulty for the duo certainly didn’t end there, with Ollie spending a total of 159 days in hospital, undergoing five transfusions, hernia surgery and was constantly on oxygen.

Ollie celebrated 100 days in hospital

“About eight weeks in, it was getting really tough. There was no progress, it was still touch and go, the alarms never stopped ringing.

“I remember them telling me to take a day off and to go get my hair done or something, and I really didn't want to, but in the end I agreed.

“Then they called me that morning saying that Ollie needed a blood transfusion and I never took another day off away from him.”

Following Ollie’s birth, Ms Brown was unable to drive due to her caesarean recovery and struggled to make the long journey between her home in North Booval and the Mater Mothers’ hospital.

Ollie and his parents leaving Mater Mothers' Hospital.

“I came home from the hospital without him and I’d never wish that on anyone. I was just thinking ‘what is he doing?’, ‘is he awake or asleep?’”

“The drive home was the hardest ‘cause I’d just left him … I hated leaving him if he could see me going.

“It was all about Ollie … it was all about ‘how can I comfort my baby when he’s in a box?’”

Now a thriving eight-month-old (four months corrected), Ollie is thriving, weighing in at an incredible 7kg and has started to experience all of the normal things a baby should.

Erika Brown and little Oliver Credit: Peter Wallis

Ms Brown said little Ollie has started to giggle and play and if it weren’t for his oxygen tubes, you could not tell that he was once so tiny and unwell.

“We are just enjoying every moment at home with Ollie. He’s so cheeky and he looks at me in the cheekiest way. He sleeps with his arms straight out like a bird and it’s so cute.

“Ollie is my light and my joy. Whenever I am with him I just want to make him smile and make him happy.”