Sue's little miracles

Neonatal nurse Sue Morgan has spent thousands of days and nights caring for premature and seriously ill babies and their parents in Mater’s Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU).

However, nothing could prepare her for the experience of having two babies born premature.

“I’ve worked in the neonatal unit for 16 years and I had my four children at Mater. My first two—Rachael and Samuel—were born premature; Rachael was born at 31 weeks and, three years later, Samuel was born at 30 weeks gestation,” she said.

“It was hard because, being a nurse, I already knew all of the things that mums go through; it’s a rollercoaster ride of good days and bad days, days when nothing happens and it feels like you’ll never get out of there.

“While Rachael was a fairly standard premmie without too many complications, with Sam we had so many bumps in the road; he was quite a sick little boy in the first couple of weeks and he lost parts of all his fingers on his right hand due to an arterial line complication.”

Sam also suffered from chronic lung disease and spent nine months on home oxygen.

Sue said one of the toughest days came when she was discharged from hospital, but her babies weren’t.
 
“You’re expecting a child and then suddenly you have a child but you have to go home every night without them and you have to trust other people to look after them.

“The experience we went through has given me an even greater compassion for the many mums and dads that have to walk this journey too. 

“My hope is that we as the staff continue to provide exceptional care and compassion not only to their children who they entrust us with but also to them as parents.”

Now 11 years old, Sam has grown into a funny, handsome and active young man who has competed at a state level for Little Athletics while Rachael has grown into a gorgeous young woman.