#005 Shantelle - miscarriage, prematurity, waters breaking 23 weeks, navigating a long NICU stay, NICU resources, mental health, staying positive, milk donor

Hey hey, Thanks for tuning into today’s conversation. Today I chat with Shantelle, mum to a little warrior! This episode contains the following trigger warnings: prematurity, long NICU stay In this conversation we chat about ✔️waters breaking at 23 weeks of pregnancy ✔️the reality of facing a baby born extremely prematurely ✔️navigating the NICU system and learning to make connections while at the hospital everyday ✔️shuffling life to be closer to hospital ✔️mental health and seeing the positive side of things ✔️expressing on the clock, feeding expressed breastmilk and becoming a milk donor ✔️celebrating milestones that parents with a full-term baby wouldn’t celebrate and take for granted ✔️ charities and help available for NICU parents in Western Australia (WA) Some charities that Shantelle mentions in her episode and which she used (and are based in Western Australia at least) —> Tiny Sparks (WA) - charity for high risk pregnancies and babies born sick or prematurely, helps parents, can provide services and care packages, information for parents and families https://www.tinysparkswa.org.au/ —> Life’s little treasures (WA) - provides information for parents, families around prematurity, care packages, breast pump hires, have a regular Facebook live chat for parents and families to answer questions, give away gifts https://lifeslittletreasures.org.au/ To be sure to be notified when a new episode comes out please subscribe to the show on your listening platform. If you would like to support the show, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a 5-star review on Apple podcast. If you would like to come on the show and tell your own birth story please get in touch through this link here https://forms.gle/YCCP5dMg8bYSXuAYA This podcast is available on Deezer, Spotify, Apple podcast, most other podcast listening platforms and Youtube Follow me on social media for more content Facebook: www.facebook.com/cuppawithadoula Instagram: www.instagram.com/cuppawithadoula Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy this episode! Alicia :)