S5:E12 - Lucia & Gabe (part 2)
From No need for Prince Charming by Alisha Burns
May 18, 2026 · 1h 2m · Season 5 · Episode 12
About this episode
Luce shares her emotional journey through 160 days in the NICU with her son Gabe, detailing the challenges and milestones they faced.
Part 2: 160 Days, and Then Home Trigger warning: This episode discusses premature birth, NICU and neonatal medical procedures. Missed Part 1? Start with S5:E11 — Luce's IVF journey, multiple losses, and the night her membranes ruptured at 22 weeks. Gabe was born at 10:35am on a Wednesday morning, weighing 598 grams. He was 30 centimetres long. He came out flat and silent, and a team of eight people swooped in immediately. Luce didn't know he was a boy for five full minutes. By quarter past twelve, she was in a wheelchair going upstairs to meet him. What followed was 160 days in hospital — first at Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne, then a transfer to the Royal Children's Hospital for specialist ventilation and heart surgery, and then back to Mercy, and finally, finally, home. Luce is a critical care nurse. She understood the ventilator settings. She could read the infusion charts. She knew what the numbers meant. And she will tell you, plainly, that none of that made it easier. It just changed how she processed the information. In Part 2, she takes us through all of it — the five brutal first weeks, the patent ductus arteriosus that needed three rounds of Panadol before…
People in this episode
Host: Alisha Burns
Guest: Luce
Topics covered
- premature birth
- NICU experience
- neonatal care
- critical care nursing
- family journey
- medical procedures
Keywords
- premature birth
- NICU
- critical care
- ventilator
- heart surgery
- skin-to-skin cuddle
- retinopathy checks
- family
- hospital journey
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Mercy Hospital for Women, Royal Children's Hospital
More episodes of No need for Prince Charming
- S5:E15 - What you need to know about being induced as a solo mum · June 8, 2026 · 1h 21m
- S5:E14 - Maree & Ellena - From the very first appointment to the other side · June 1, 2026 · 1h 11m
- S5:E13 -Gemma,Thomas & Henry - PCOS, Perinatal Loss & Pregnancy After Loss · May 18, 2026 · 1h 8m
- S5:E11 - Lucia (part 1) · May 11, 2026 · 1h 5m
- S5:E10 - The Considering Stage: Why Making the Decision is the Hardest Part · May 4, 2026 · 38 min
- S5:E9 - Michelle & Vayda-Rae - The long wait, the leap & life on the other side · April 27, 2026 · 1h 12m
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