Erika Brown was still a teenager when she gave birth 16 weeks early to a baby boy, weighing little more than 500 grams.
Her son Oliver Bate-Brown was so small he could almost fit in her hand, his little legs dangling down.
"The size of my pinkie, that was what his legs were like," Ms Brown said.
"They were so skinny."
The palm of his hand was not much wider than one of her fingernails and his skin was "quite see-through".
"You could see his veins really clearly," Ms Brown said.
"As soon as I saw him, I just knew … he was going to have to fight to survive. I was just really, really scared. I was hoping and praying for the best."
It was a traumatic start to motherhood for Ms Brown, who was just 19 when baby Ollie was born by emergency caesarean at 24 weeks gestation at the Mater Mothers' Hospital in Brisbane.
Her waters had broken a week earlier for reasons that remain a mystery and she was admitted to hospital for monitoring.
When her baby's heart rate dropped suddenly, doctors decided he needed to be delivered urgently.
'I didn't really have a pregnancy'
Ms Brown, of Ipswich, west of Brisbane, was knocked out with a general anaesthetic and Ollie was delivered at 7:31pm on June 25 last year, weighing just 520g. He measured 27.5 centimetres long.
He came out crying but by the time she saw him for the first time four hours later, he was on a ventilator to help him breathe.
"It's a big shock. I was like: 'Whoa,'" Ms Brown recalled.
"I had no idea what motherhood was. I didn't know what pregnancy was. I didn't really have a pregnancy."
She had her first skin-to-skin cuddle of her newborn the day after he was born.
"He had so much going on. There was a lot of tubing," Ms Brown recalled.
"They had three nurses to actually bring him to me for the first time just to manoeuvre him properly.
"They put him on me … chest to chest. It was so precious. It was just amazing."
Of the 1,825 babies cared for in the Mater Mothers' neonatal critical care unit in 2022, Ollie was one of a dozen babies born at 24 weeks gestation. Nine of them survived.
Ollie spent 159 days in hospital before being allowed home with Ms Brown, now 20, and his 21-year-old dad Lachlan Bate to their Ipswich home on December 1.
He still requires supplemental oxygen, but now weighs almost 7kg and has outgrown his bassinet.
Ms Brown did not skip a day in hospital, determined to be by her son's side as much as possible, missing him when she had to leave.
"What I went through with Ollie, it makes me cry to this day," she said.
"It really was just so hard. I would want to cry every single day. I'm not even going to lie. It was very emotional for a while.
"There were a few times when he would just stop breathing.
"It was really overwhelming. I was very young. Just watching Ollie go through it … that was the hardest part. It was a rollercoaster. I love him so much."
The 'eye opening' world of intensive care
Ms Brown was unprepared her for the foreign world of neonatal intensive care, which she described as "quite shocking" and "eye opening".
Although a few of her friends have children, none had given birth prematurely.
"It's hard talking to people my age about what I went through because they don't understand," Ms Brown said.
"But they all love Ollie."
When they finally got Ollie home, Ms Brown stayed awake for the first night just to watch him in his bassinet to "make sure he's safe".
He turns eight months old this week.
Ms Brown said he was doing well despite his early start to life.
He's sleeping through the night, and has transitioned to a crib.
"Honestly, with everything he's gone through, he is such a blessing. It's a miracle," Ms Brown said.
"He's such a good baby. He'll feed, he does everything right.
"Now, being home, I have it easy. It's hard to remember everything we went through because my life is so different. I couldn't be happier."
'He'll be running around with the other kids'
Mater neonatology director Pita Birch said babies born at 24 weeks had about a 70 per cent chance of survival.
Of those, about a quarter will experience a moderate-to-severe disability.
Dr Birch said Ollie's development would be monitored until he was four years old.
"At two and four years of age, we'll do specific developmental testing to see whether he's got any signs of disability," she said.
"We do that for all of our premature babies who are born at less than 28 weeks."
Dr Birch said Ollie would be gradually weaned off supplemental oxygen as his lungs improved.
"In the first two years of a baby's life, they can grow new lung tissue," he said.
"He'll probably be on oxygen for a few more months.
"But once he gets to school, he'll be running around with all the other kids."
Dr Birch said the Mater's neonatal unit was working hard on improving the involvement of families in the care of their babies.
That included facilitation of early kangaroo care – skin-to-skin cuddles as soon after birth as possible.
"What I wouldn't have seen 15 years ago is a 24-weeker coming out and having a cuddle with its mum the same day, or the day after, the baby has been born," Dr Birch said.
"That's a really big improvement. That helps parents cope. It helps parents be part of the care, it helps parents to bond with their baby, which improves outcomes when babies go home.
"Infection rates, all that sort of stuff improves if we get parents involved with the care of their baby.
"If you get mums cuddling early on, then that helps baby get healthy bacteria from mum. It also helps mum express milk so then the milk supply is better.
"Even five, 10 years ago, it would be weeks before parents would be able to touch their baby."
Reading to the babies is also encouraged, with the nursery filled with shelves of books.
Ms Brown regularly read to Ollie during his time in neonatal care.
His first book was My Love for You is Everywhere, by Racha Mourtada.
"It's all about that if you're away from your loved one, that you feel connected in different ways," Ms Brown said.
"I read that to him all the time."
