In 1988, when I was 34 weeks pregnant with my first child, my waters broke in a Thai restaurant. Yeah, I know, embarrassing. I found myself in hospital that night, where I was to stay, if only I had realised it, for the next six weeks, apart from a couple of days. It was the beginning of what remains the most terrifying experience of my life.

We spent 10 days in ICU. It was full of RSV babies and children who were suffering all kinds of major health crises.Credit: ISTOCK

A week later, my daughter was induced at 35 weeks. I had spent the previous seven days confined to my hospital bed, being injected with steroids to help my baby’s lungs mature. Then, I developed an infection – once the waters break, the womb is no longer sterile – and it was time to get the baby out. The birth was wonderful, mostly thanks to a timely epidural and my daughter was born in such good nick that she received an Apgar score of 9 out of 10. She did not need to go into a humidicrib, even though she was premmie and weighed only 2.5 kilos. She went into a special care nursery, which we were pleased about at the time, but lived to regret.

We spent a further week in hospital because, like many premmie babies, she was jaundiced. She spent a few days under lights,........

© The Age