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It was feared he had suffered a perforation of his oesophagus during attempts to keep him alive after birth.<\/p>\n
As Kit was rushed to the RCH, his identical twin brother Noah was on the precipice of life 700m up the road at the Royal Women\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
Sammy Scott was home alone when she went into early labour at 26 weeks gestation.<\/p>\n
When she arrived at the Women\u2019s, the original plan was to give her steroids as a last-minute boost for her babies\u2019 lungs as they waited for delivery on a later date.<\/p>\n
But on further inspection doctors saw that Noah\u2019s umbilical cord was already being delivered.<\/p>\n
Within the hour, the boys were born via an emergency caesarean.<\/p>\n
Ms Scott and partner Nathan McClymont took turns visiting Kit at the RCH, and being with Noah during his first and only week of life. The extent of damage to his brain from the prolapsed cord became apparent on day three.<\/p>\n
Noah now watches over his brother. His photo rests above Kit\u2019s cot in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where Kit continues his own struggle on the path to good health.<\/p>\n
He has avoided surgery, with tests showing that the oesophageal perforation healed on its own.<\/p>\n
Each morning when Ms Scott arrives from Ronald McDonald House in Fitzroy, she changes her son\u2019s nappy, bathes him and holds him as he is feed milk \u2013 measured by the tens of mills – through a nasal gastric tube.<\/p>\n
They world the pair now live in is one where the background noise of lullaby music is superseded by beeping machine and monitors, and cries from cots mimic mews of hungry kittens.<\/p>\n
It is a ward where you need to follow the tubes and wires from the ventilators and infusion pumps to the cot, it find the hospital\u2019s tiniest patients.<\/p>\n
This is a world where it can be days or even weeks between cuddles.<\/p>\n
Involving parents in the day-to-care of their sick newborns is a crucial part of the Butterfly ward\u2019s Cocoon Care program.<\/p>\n
Kit now needs to put on weight, grow and reduce his dependence on oxygen before he can be discharged home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bigger that he gets you think it\u2019s going to get easier, and it\u2019s less time in here, but it gets harder. It feels like it\u2019s never ending,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHope it keeping me going. The hospital has been amazing. The nurses become your family, but I\u2019m looking forward now to making memories outside the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n