Brisbane mother Emma Morgan grapples with loss of baby boy Avery

A north Brisbane mother grieving the loss of her baby boy has shared their last moments together in a heartbreaking tribute the week of his funeral. WARNING: CONFRONTING

Baby Avery Morgan. Picture – contributed.

When this north Brisbane baby boy first opened his little eyes, doctors and his family had no idea of the health struggles and heartache that was to come.

Emma Morgan, 35, of Narangba, said no one could have predicted her baby boy would never live to see life outside of hospital walls.

Her fourth child, Avery Morgan, was born on Tuesday, May 30, with severe health complications. Sadly, his birth was in itself a death sentence — because when it was time for the little baby to breath, his body could not.

“He was born premmie via caesarean at Caboolture Hospital. I remember him screaming before he went limp and blue,” his mother said.

“They tried CPR and then took him away where he was put on a ventilator with a tube stuck down his throat to this lungs before I even got to hold him.”

The were concerns about the development of Avery’s lungs, diaphragm, and chest wall.

It wasn’t until three days later, on Friday, June 2, that Miss Morgan was able to hold her newborn son for the very first time at the Mater Hospital.

“I just cried. I was so excited to finally hold him and feel his skin against mine that I couldn’t stop,” she said.

“The X-rays showed he had abnormal lungs and rib structure. He still couldn’t breathe on his own and they didn’t know if he had brain damage of if he’d survive.”

For a month Miss Morgan would visit him regularly and the pair had settled into their own routine.

Emma Morgan with baby Avery. Picture – contributed.

She would give him a bath, tell him how much she loved him, read him a book, and spend time cuddling, laughing, and playing with him — just like any mother and their newborn baby.

“It wasn’t the same as having him at home but it became our special time together,” Miss Morgan said.

“When I came into his room and started talking to the nurses you could hear him stirring. He knew I was there and he knew I was mum.”

Despite having hope for his recovery, baby Avery did not improve.

“His lungs just never grew,” Miss Morgan said.

“I remember clear as day when the doctors told us he wasn’t going to make it. I just didn’t believe them.”

Miss Morgan’s best friend, Megan Raven, was in the room when Avery was born, and by her side when he took his last breathe.

“They actually shared a birthday,” Miss Morgan said.

Miss Raven, who created a GoFundMe campaign to support her best friend, said they were gutted.

“This was a shock as none of these complications had been found on any scans throughout the pregnancy,” Ms Raven said.

After being on ventilators and fighting for his life in the pediatric intensive care unit since birth, on Saturday August 12, baby Avery died in his mother’s arms on a balcony at the Brisbane Children’s Hospital.

“Avery decided that it was time for some much needed rest,” Ms Raven said.

Baby Avery Morgan. Picture – contributed.

Fighting back tears of love and anguish, Miss Morgan recalled her baby boy’s last day.

“They called me that Saturday and said it was time … his body and heart were shutting down … I got there about 11.30am,” she said.

“I cried a lot but kept with the same routine. I gave him his last bath and held him and talked to him … I decided to be on the balcony with him when he passed.

“They gave him some medicine to help with his pain and anxiety so he wouldn’t panic when his breathing mask came off.

“We went out onto the balcony about 4.30pm and I just had him wrapped up and was giving him cuddles while we took his mask off and watched the sunset together.

“We danced together on the balcony since I’d never get to do a mother son dance at his wedding … we just kept talking to each other and to him … we wanted him to feel so loved in those last moments.”

Despite the exhaustion, Miss Morgan said she felt it happen at 9.46pm, Saturday, August 12.

“I felt him leave us. I could feel that he’d passed,” she said.

“As horrible as it was it was also very special and I wouldn’t change it … other than still having him here I mean.”

Emma Morgan with baby Avery. Picture – contributed.

Miss Morgan said she found a sense of quiet peacefulness in her heartache, from spending a night sleeping next her baby one last time.

“Afterwards I stayed the night in the quiet room with him and he slept in my arms there.

“I didn’t think I’d want to sleep with his body and said I’d lie there for an hour but then you get past it and it’s like they still are with you … it was the first time I got to hold him without any tubes or monitors.

“It was just him and I and even though he had passed it was still special that it was just us and I finally got a night to actually stay with him.”

Miss Morgan and her three other children, lead the way at Avery’s funeral in North Brisbane Friday, August, 25 — saying their final goodbyes.

You can donate to help the grieving family here.