Ramsay Newsroom

Like most new mums, Katie was delighted when she fell pregnant, and still recalls getting to know her unborn twins Oliver and Harrison in the womb.

“I felt their little kicks. I talked to them. I couldn’t wait to meet them,” Katie said.

After noticing a sudden loss of movement at 29 weeks, Katie and husband Andy drove to the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney where scans showed a concealed placental abruption (premature separation of the placenta from the uterus).

Despite being rushed to theatre for an emergency caesarean, the couple lost their identical twin boys on the same day.

“I think the hardest thing was watching everyone else leave with their new little babies, and we walked out emptyhanded,” Katie said.

“We got to hold our babies and say goodbye and we have a special box at home with their little footprints, but I can only just talk about it now.”

The couple fell pregnant again with Sophie 10 months later. With concerns regarding the scarring from the previous emergency procedure, Katie’s obstetrician scheduled a c-section at 36 weeks at Kareena Private Hospital.

“The lead-up to going to hospital was very stressful and I constantly worried about something going wrong,” Katie said.

“When Sophie was safely delivered, I thought the stress would ease off, but it didn’t because having a premmie child that needs special care comes with its own set of challenges!”

“I will be eternally grateful for the special care nurses at Kareena. They took on the challenge with me, and were there 24/7 every step of the way.”

“For me the experience of being in special care was new, but for them it’s an everyday job, and they treated every little baby like they were the most special person on earth. They didn’t just look after Sophie; they looked after me and my husband too.”

“By the time Emily came along in 2019, also three and a half weeks premmie, I was comfortable putting her in the expert hands of the staff in the special care nursery!”

“As a registered nurse myself, working in diabetes, I know the value of a health care support team. I also knew 100% that when I left hospital to go home to sleep that both Emily and Sophie were in the best of hands.

“This International Nurses Day I salute Kareena’s nurses and all nurses who are performing ‘little miracles’ in special care nurseries every day. And quite a lot of ‘big’ ones too in operating theatres, specialist clinics, palliative care and in rehab centres around the country.”