I'm walking 71km to celebrate my baby, Bonnie Ella.

The last piece of our puzzle. Tiny but fierce, never change baby!

My Progress

I've raised

$11

I've Moved

0KM

My Target

71KM

Bonnie

My first dating scan with Bonnie I found out I was 19 weeks and 4 days pregnant, every week we had scans and every week her growth was slower- sometimes measuring 3 weeks behind what she should have been.

I gave birth to a beautiful girl on the 13th of May 2018 15 minutes after we arrived at the Hospital- Mother's Day 2018 From my first scan it made me 34 weeks gestation, however due to her size and the scans the drs decided 32 weeks would be used for her corrected age.

My girl was born weighing in at 2020grams and 33cm long. After 5 seconds on my tummy She was taken straight to the NICU at Gosford hospital where she was given breathing support,a nasal gastric tube placed and sleep apnea monitors placed and was unable to be held. When a baby is born premmie there lungs are not fully developed, they are unable to suck, swallow and breath at the same time so a dummy is given to be able to learn how to do those at the same time. Bonnie came off breathing supports after 24 hours.

I had a toddler and baby at home- 2 girls 3 and 1 and was discharged at 48 hours to be able to go home and care for them as they wanted me to rest( its hard to spend anytime away from your baby- all day and night spent in the nicu.

I spent everyday at the hospital, my time at home was spent pumping and resting whilst caring for two other girls. Leaving the hospital without Bonnie was one of the hardest things id ever done I had taken two babies home and I was torn between 3 children- what if she needed me, what if something happened- it was 45minutes to the hospital, we had no idea how long she would be in their for but she had rhe most beautiful group of drs and nurses/midwives taking care of her and my hourly calls to check in

4 days were spent in the NICU before she graduated to the special care nursery. She had lost some birth weight but was slowly starting to take tiny amount of milk more regularly as her tiny tummy was so small. Sometimes not even a whole 1ml. She was doing good, and the apnea monitor was taken off at day 7.

Day 8 the new NICU/SPECIAL CARE NURSERY opened and Bonnie was one of the first babies over the threshold into this new part of the hospital.

Bonnie spent another 6 days in the new ward before she was discharged at a teeny 1880grams.

Bonnie has thrived ever since she got home and I am forever greatful for the care provided to myself and My Beautiful girl whilst in the NICU/ Special Care and after our discharge from hospital.

Having had a small birth weight baby previously at 5p 13oz I knew what it was like to care for a little baby but not a baby as small as Bonnie but i have a healthy, wild 8 year old girl who may be small but that has never stopped her from taking on the biggest of challenges.

I seen first hand the love, compassion, care and knowledge from the nurses and midwives who work on the neonatal ward and the dedication they give to our Prem babies. I understand how important it is to help these wards, nurses, drs, beautiful babies and family to provide the very best care for these little bubs and how amazing this life saving equipment is. I was lucky to have a reasonably healthy baby with small amounts of interventions but seeing so many tiny, sick babies broke my heart. So many babies and families spend months in the hospital, need extreme interventions,they may have on going health issues ect. So this is truly an amazing cause to support.

Jess

Every day in Australia, 71 babies are born prematurely.

This November, I'm taking on the Premmie Marathon Challenge to give these babies the best chance at life.

The funds I raise will help Running for Premature Babies provide life-saving neonatal equipment for hospitals around Australia, giving premature and critically ill babies the chance to grow stronger and go home with their families.

If you're able to support me, I'd be incredibly grateful. Every donation helps fund the equipment and research that gives premature babies a better chance of survival and quality of life.

Thank you for supporting my challenge and helping Australia's tiniest babies. 💜