We had the pleasure of photographing pregnant Louise Fuller, her husband, and two daughters. She’s living through her second stressful pregnancy, so it was a joy to capture the time before the birth of her third child in an uplifting way. She kindly - and bravely - shares her story.

When I saw Elena’s post offering a giveaway maternity photoshoot, I thought I’d try my luck and got in touch with her, sharing a tiny bit of our story with her. Her reply was so heartfelt, beautiful and caring, I felt from her first email that we were in the best hands to capture a precious time in our family’s life. After all the months of anxiety, it was so sweet to have the chance to pause and capture our last baby girl bump, the excitement we feel for her and the love we have as a family with Sophie who’s 4 and Holly, 2.

When I was 15 weeks pregnant with our second baby, Holly, we received the surprising news that I had developed antibodies that may have already begun to attack our baby’s red blood cells. 

At 34 weeks pregnant, our baby had become so unwell, she was better out than in, so I was induced that week at Royal North Shore Hospital. As I neared the end of labour, an incubator, a tangle of cords and machines was wheeled in along with hordes of doctors at the ready to care for our baby. We were so lucky she came out breathing so that we could have a precious first 15-minute cuddle with her and she could be wheeled into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in an open bed, rather than a closed incubator. My husband, Sean, went with Holly to be with her as she was set up with her multiple wires to monitor oxygen levels and heart rate, a feeding tube and the maximum number of blue phototherapy lights possible- she was the most glowing baby in the NICU! It was all a bit of a shock to see her.

Our baby girl spent 17 days in the NICU being treated for Rhesus Disease of the Newborn after her red blood cells were so depleted in utero. She endured heel prick blood tests every 4 hours or so to monitor her haemoglobin and bilirubin levels which again set us on a roller coaster ride swinging around wildly between worry, relief, and anxiety. She needed such intensive phototherapy that we were unable to cuddle her or establish breastfeeding for more than 15 minutes once a day for the first week. This increased to 30 minutes once a day and finally in the last week I could stay day and night and feed her every 4 hours.

In all honesty, our time in the NICU was the most stressful, emotional, anxiety-filled, and scarring time of my life, and felt like it lasted forever! We are incredibly lucky and thankful to have received the best care in the world from the most amazing team of midwives, nurses and doctors and to have our healthy, happy, and amazing Holly!

We are now pregnant with baby number three and following months of high anxiety, unknowns, and the fortnightly roller coaster ride, we are miraculously at the 35-week point and our baby has not needed blood transfusions in utero as was the highly likely scenario the second time around. We are now at the point where we may keep being extremely lucky and our baby can keep growing up until the 37-week mark, potentially only needing a few days of jaundice treatment or she may be born unwell this week or next and need the intensive care that Holly received. 

Antibodies can develop during pregnancy in a mum with Rh-Negative blood. No one knows why my body developed antibodies as this is a rare occurrence these days, with thanks to the generosity of plasma donors who help to create Anti-D injections given to Rh Negative mums during pregnancy. These injections typically prevent any parents and babies from going through what we did. 

During her NICU stay, Holly received two intravenous immunoglobulin treatments which helped her narrowly escape the most extreme and risky treatment for Rhesus disease. Our tiny baby girl also received two blood transfusions to help her recover. We are ETERNALLY grateful to every single blood and plasma donor in Australia for the life of our baby girl! If you possibly can, please consider being one of these heroes who save lives.

To donate blood to help other families like Louise and Sean’s, visit www.donateblood.com.au