Miracles DO happen!

Albany mother Kelly Marwick’s three-year-old daughter Alexis is living proof miracles do happen.

After Alexis was born in 2009 with meconium aspiration syndrome, or fluid on the lungs, Ms Marwick went on to form NurtureGroup Albany through the Miracle Babies Foundation, to help parents in similar situations.

Before Alexis’ birth, Ms Marwick was living in Perth.

Nine days overdue with her first child, a test at Bentley Hospital showed her baby’s heart had dropped to 40 beats per minute.

“I had an emergency caesarean and she came out and wasn’t breathing so they resuscitated her, she had meconium aspiration syndrome, she basically had tar-like poo in her lungs,” she said.

The baby was immediately sent to Princess Margaret Hospital.

“She was ventilated and started having seizures, then she suffered brain injury from it as well and the way her blood was flowing through her body was not right,” Ms Marwick said.

“(Alexis) was at death’s door, it was touch and go for a week, they gave her hypothermic cooling and she was put induced coma for three days.

“Her body temperature was cooled to alleviate any damage to her brain or organs, it was pretty full-on, it was very scary.”

Ms Marwick’s said after a week in the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care, Alexis got an infection and doctors told Ms Marwick her daughter would not make it.

“But she came back from that and she spent five weeks in intensive care.”

After their time at the hospital, Ms Marwick and partner Mark Reeby moved down to Albany with baby Alexis to be closer to family.

Last September Ms Marwick started NutureGroup, a support and playgroup for carers who have experienced the birth of a premature or sick newborn.

“I didn’t feel there was any support groups down here — with new parents going through it, there aren’t a lot of places to turn,” she said.

Group member Tamara Robertson spent many days in intensive care with daughter Ruby, now 2, and said many of the group’s children had ongoing trips to Princess Margaret, speech therapists and physiotherapists.

“We all suffer from trauma from around the time of our baby’s birth, that’s what we have in common,” she said.

“We’ve all had a fight on our hands and spent time in intensive care or hospital – it’s not always smooth sailing with these children.”

The Albany NurtureGroup is held every second week during school terms on Thursdays at 9.30am to 11.30am at Rainbow Coast Neighbourhood Centre.

The next session will be held on March 28. Visit www.miraclebabies.org.au for more details.