Baby born at 22 weeks is thriving, family says

A premature baby who was not expected to survive after being born at 22 weeks is thriving and "incredibly determined", her family has said.

Wren was the smallest baby the neonatal intensive care unit at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital had ever seen.

Mum Naomi Southern-Augustine, from Peterborough, said it was "really rocky" but Wren was a "miracle" and her family were "incredibly proud" of her.

"They didn't think she would survive but she pulled through," she said.

When she was born in April 2023, Wren weighed just 14oz (410g) and could fit in the palm of her mum's hand.

Wren, who is now 17 months old, spent 131 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and started breathing by herself after more than 500 days.

"We have had a lot of inputs from a lot of teams since coming home including paediatric community nurses, speech and language therapist, ophthalmology – I think this is why she has done so well and is thriving", Ms Southern-Augustine said.

"But a lot of this is Wren as well. She has done the hard work. She is fiercely independent and incredibly determined and happy.

"We are reflecting on the last year and how small she was in January. She has learnt to crawl, learnt to walk and learnt to breathe on her own - it is the biggest achievement this year."

Previously, the family has raised money for Luton and Dunstable University Hospital and Peterborough's NICU.

Ms Southern-Augustine has started working on a book about their journey to offer offer hope to other parents with similar struggles.

"Reaching out to others who have been through similar NICU experience was a lifeline. You do need that support and there is a massive NICU community and we wouldn't have survived without it," she said.

"Take one day at a time. Reach out to others going through it. NICU is a definition of a rollercoaster.

"It will have moments of joy and very quickly it will be on a dive down. Take time out for yourself and don't give up hope."

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