The power of loss and love: Sheree and Graeme’s life-altering birth story

A spontaneous labour. Twins born at 25 weeks. An incompetent cervix — the perfect storm that resulted in the unfortunate birthing story of Sheree Walsh and her husband Graeme’s twins Heidi and Connor back in 2017. But it’s not an uncommon one.

What the expecting parents didn’t know at the time was that each year in Australia 26,000 babies are born too soon, and a characteristic associated with increased likelihood of preterm birth includes babies born in multiple births: 63 per cent of twins.

“I didn’t know what was happening as I could still feel the babies. But unfortunately, my cervix had shortened so much that it was deemed a risk for me to remain off bed rest,” Sheree said.

The length of a woman’s cervix mid-pregnancy is a strong predictor of her risk of preterm birth and one of the seven key strategies to prevent preterm and early term birth—strategies shown to reduce preterm and early term birth as part of Every Week Counts National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative.

Born at just 25 weeks’ gestation and weighing just a combined 1250 grams, the twins, Connor and Heidi, would be classed as micro-preemies.

Tragically, Connor passed away after ten days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Before delivering her babies, Sheree wasn’t informed about the role of NICU and the work they do, nor that she would need to spend a whopping 147 days recovering in the Special Care Nursery before being able to go home.

“The stay following was difficult as you are celebrating one twin whilst grieving for the other. We were very lucky to have had a very supportive team in the hospital to help us,” Sheree told us.

Heidi experienced and overcame several hurdles during her stay including retinopathy of prematurity which required laser treatment at 10 weeks, neonatal diabetes, thyroid issues and chronic lung disease due to her extremely early birth.

“It really is a rollercoaster ride, you have great days then some really difficult days and sometimes these are all on the same day,” Sheree reflected.

“A premature birth is something that you’re not prepared for, it was overwhelming and scary,” she said

“We were really lucky because we were there for each other, and we had strong support from our family and friends.”

Now seven years old, Heidi is vivacious, vibrant and “a total miracle” in her parent’s eyes.

“Heidi has very limited core strength; however, it doesn’t stop her. She is the most resilient, social, and strongest child I’ve ever come across. She is also caring and willing to give anything a try,” Sheree said.

A few years later, in mid-2021, they were much more prepared to fall pregnant again with their son Rory, leaning on the knowledge and care from the Hospital’s preterm birth prevention clinic, which includes the crucial strategies from the Alliance and Every Week Counts Collaborative.

“I absolutely believe that being able to go to term with Rory was due to the extra monitoring and treatments I received under the Every Week Counts program.”

The Commonwealth-funded Every Week Counts National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative is a partnership between the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance, Women’s Healthcare Australasia, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Safer Care Victoria, and the Women and Infants Research Foundation. For more information visit the Alliance website.