A baby boy named Isaac is approaching 100 days in hospital after being born weighing just over 500 grams, one of the smallest possible starts to life. His mother described the journey as a roller coaster, but said that after more than three months of care her son is now thriving and fighting for every breath as he has done since day one.
The progress can be measured almost gram by gram. Isaac weighed just over 500 grams at birth, and his mother said she has celebrated every single gram he has gained since. He has now reached around two kilograms, and one of the midwives remarked that he has become one of the bigger babies on the unit, like a big brother among the smallest patients.
The hardest period, the mother said, was the time Isaac spent in intensive care. She praised the nurses there, saying they carry an enormous responsibility looking after the tiniest babies. She added that she never felt they were only caring for Isaac, but for the whole family as well, who she said were made to feel welcome throughout the stay.
A turning point came in the first few days, when a consultant told her something that initially caught her off guard. She was told she was the most important person in Isaac's care and would come to know him better than the medical team did. The message was that she should never stay quiet if she sensed something was wrong with him.
That approach, she said, made her feel like part of the team rather than just a visitor coming in. She was encouraged to speak up whenever Isaac did not look the way he had an hour earlier. She said that invitation helped her cope with an extremely difficult situation and to feel genuinely involved in her son's recovery rather than standing on the sidelines.
With Isaac now stable and growing, the focus is shifting towards home. The mother said that just before she spoke, one of the doctors had wanted to discuss the word she had been waiting for, discharge, and that planning around it had begun. By her own count it was day 99, with day 100 falling the following day, a milestone she never imagined she would mark.
The prospect of leaving brings its own fears. At first she simply wanted to go home with her baby, she said, but now the thought of doing so feels even more frightening than staying on the unit. She said she was reassured by the support that will follow the family after discharge. At the same clinic, another mother, Lilliana, described preparing for an elective caesarean after two earlier natural births.