‘Miracle baby’ Ethan McGarry home after 135 days in hospital

After 135 days in hospital, little “miracle baby” Ethan McGarry has finally made it home to Kewarra Beach.

After 135 days in hospital, little “miracle baby” Ethan McGarry has finally made it home to Kewarra Beach.

It’s been a tremendous journey for young Ethan and his parents Nicole and Dave, after Nicole went into early labour at 22 weeks and five days.

His twin sister, Amelia Rose, was born first but sadly didn’t survive.

Ethan stayed in the womb another eight days – long enough to give Nicole the chance to get down to Townsville’s neonatal intensive care unit, and to give himself a fighting chance at life.

Even then, it was touch and go.

Nicole and David McGarry, with Ethan and his older brother Mason. Picture: Nuno Avendano

Ethan got “quite sick” and was intubated three times.

But with the help of doctors and nurses, he pulled through, graduating to the Townsville Special Care Nursery and then relocating to the Cairns Special Care Nursery in August.

And so after his first four and a half months of life in hospital, Ethan and his parents were finally able to return home on September 7.

“It’s a very surreal feeling, really. It felt like we were never going to get home,” Mrs McGarry said.

“He’s still on home oxygen and has a lot of check-ups and everything but being home is such a big step forward.

“He’s our little miracle baby.”

Ethan is now almost six times his birth weight of 663g.

Mrs McGarry said it was a “very emotional day” when they finally returned home after staying with the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Without the help of Ronald McDonald House providing them with a place to stay, Mrs McGarry said she didn’t know what they would have done.

Cairns mum Nicole McGarry with Ethan at the Townsville University Hospital. Picture: Evan Morgan

“We lived there for the four months and everything they do is just amazing. All the volunteers and everything, they definitely deserve a shout out,” she said.

“It was located across from the hospital, it was really easy to walk across every day. It made everything so much more bearable.”

Mrs McGarry said it was incredible to see how much doctors and nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit could do for someone so tiny.

“It’s a very different world in (the intensive care unit),” she said.

“One day you could be doing great, the next day everything can come crashing down. We’re talking about life and death in there and it’s a very tough place to be in, but there’s so many people around that support you, that are going through similar things, it’s very eye-opening.”

With the hard yards behind him, Mrs McGarry said Ethan was “a very chilled baby”.

“He has a very quiet cry from the tubes being down his throat for such a long time,” she said.

“He just loves being held now … he just wants to be held all the time.”

Originally published as ‘Miracle baby’ Ethan McGarry home after 135 days in hospital