On Friday, 17 November we mark World Prematurity Day - a global movement to raise awareness of preterm and early term birth.
Each year more than 26,000 Australian babies are born too soon from this complication of pregnancy which is also the leading cause for death and disability in young children globally.
Personal stories of preterm birth, as told first-hand by mothers of premmie babies, are key to raising awareness. Natasha Frost is one such mother and this is her story.
After tragically losing their first daughter to extremely preterm birth, Natasha and Niklas realised just how many babies were lost preterm and how special a healthy full-term baby really is.
In September 2022 and at just 19 weeks pregnant, Natasha began to experience cramps which would be the first in a long line of difficulties for her pregnancy.
“At 18 weeks, everything very much resembled a textbook pregnancy. Shortly thereafter, the length of my cervix began to shorten which I was told was a strong indicator for preterm birth.”
Natasha was admitted to her local hospital and after experiencing bleeding and an increase in the intensity of the cramps, an examination was carried out which showed that her membranes were protruding and that Natasha was in preterm labour.
As the hospital was not equipped to deal with a high risk pregnancy of this nature, she would be transferred to the Maternal Fetal Assessment Unit at King Edward Memorial Hospital - the state's sole tertiary level perinatal centre.
At KEMH, Natasha would have an ultrasound and another examination, which would confirm she was in preterm labour.
“The doctors told me I would need to wait until morning to be examined again to see if there was any way to save the pregnancy,” she said.
“The next morning the doctors completed a brief assessment and let me know that further examinations were still required as too was a care plan moving forward.”
Half an hour later Natasha felt the cramps getting worse and began to vomit which would ultimately break her waters just as her husband arrived. She was immediately transferred down from the ward and to labour and delivery.
“Everything just happened so quickly. It felt like I was on a out of control rollercoaster that couldn’t be stopped. I recall laying there and thinking that there’s no way this could be happening to me. But it was,” she remembers.
“Knowing that I was about meet my daughter, but also have to say goodbye was extremely hard. It was like a nightmare that I could not wake up from. The doctors and nurses told me that she was too little to survive if she was to be born. When I saw my water had broken, I couldn’t help but scream.”
At exactly 20 weeks pregnant, Natasha gave birth to her daughter, Cordelia. After just five minutes, she passed away in her father’s arms.
Following their heart-breaking loss, Natasha and Niklas would steel themselves and surround themselves with family and friends for support, and miraculously just six weeks later, would be pregnant again.
“Everything about my second pregnancy was heightened and thankfully I would come under the care of the Preterm Birth Prevention Clinic at King Eddies,” she said.
Natasha would begin natural progesterone supplementation from 13 weeks given her history of preterm birth and a shortened cervix and at 16 weeks would have an internal ultrasound every two weeks to check the length of her cervix to see if she needed more help to prevent another preterm loss.
At 20 weeks again, the internal ultrasound would reveal that her cervix had drastically shortened in just a mere two weeks. That night she would have a cervical suture placed - a stitch around the neck of the womb (cervix) - aiming to give support to the cervix and thereby reduce risk of preterm birth. See the
key strategies to prevent preterm birth here.
“With every sensation of pain, every cramp, I just recall being incredibly stressed out. I knew I was under great care with the preterm birth clinic, and I was being monitored very closely. But there wasn’t much I could do about the worrying,” she said.
“There were a couple of times I thought ‘I can’t feel her’ and your mind automatically thinks the very worse. The team at King Eddies were amazing, and I can not speak highly enough of them. They always made me feel like I was not a burden or crazy.
“No matter how many times I came in in the last few weeks of my pregnancy just to be reassured, not once did they make me feel like I was wasting their time.”
Natasha’s second pregnancy would again prove to be far from being straightforward. Her cervical stitch needed to be removed early due to signs of pre-eclampsia and possible early labour.
On 6 July 2023, Natasha’s resilience would pay off however as she gave birth to her daughter Aurelia a week later at 37 weeks and 1 day, weighing a very healthy 2.8kg.
“Initially, she wasn’t crying which was a bit of a concern. Having suffered a previous loss with my first daughter whose lungs were just too small to allow her to cry, the silence was deadening,” she recalls.
“It was a big relief when she finally did, and I could release the breath I was holding. Despite the reassurance of the midwives, I just needed to hear her cry.
“To see her and hold her and hear her crying, is something so very special. To be able to walk out of the hospital almost a year later with her and not a memory box was the most amazing feeling, but so surreal and reliving. I kept thinking it was a dream and any second I was going to wake up.”
Fast forward to today and Aurelia is a happy and healthy 3-month-old that’s hitting all her developmental milestones and she will always be a little sister to Cordelia.
Natasha and Niklas always talk to Aurelia about her big sister and their family also acknowledge their first daughter who will never be forgotten.
“Preterm birth is something that can affect anyone. Raising awareness is critical because at the end of the day all we ever want is a happy and healthy family. Cordelia will always be our first born, our little angel, and forever a part of our family. She did not come home the way we wanted her to, but she is home.”