Our Stories
Wren Frances McConnell
Baby Sister to Edie, big sister to Noah and much loved daughter of Maddy and Matt.
On the 15th of April, our baby Girl Wren Frances McConnell entered the world quietly. A normal second pregnancy with an induction of labour at 38weeks, ended with a cord prolapse and emergency GA C-section. Being a midwife myself this was truly my worst nightmare.
Wren was born and resuscitated, however we never saw her open her eyes or cry.
The next few hours were a blur as we were asked if we would like to withdraw care in our small country town or in Melbourne. After discussions with the Royal Children’s Hospital, we decided to that we had to give our baby girl a chance and she was flown to Melbourne. Followed closely by her dad Matt, then me a few hours later being transferred to the Royal Women’s.
Wren was actively cooled to try and prevent further brain damage- however that meant we were unable to hold her until she had re-warmed which was nearly 5 days later. She suffered small seizures, but all her organs recovered.
We are grateful for the monitoring of her brain, as we were able to see it react when we held her hand and talked to her. All our baby girl ever knew was love.
On Thursday the 21st we received the devastating news that unfortunately, her MRI showed catastrophic brain damage where the likelihood was that she would never breathe on her own.
We made plans to spend our final days with Wren, for her to meet her big sister Edie. For our brothers, sisters and grandparents to meet our precious girl for the first and last time.
We planned to withdraw care on the Sunday. On Saturday, we took Wren outside in a pram- ventilated and pushed proudly by her big sister. We all had cuddles in the sunshine, once returning to the ward Wren told us she was ready in her own way.
We started to say our goodbyes, skin to skin, reading books and listening to music. We are forever grateful that heartfelt was able to capture our last moments together with her warm and pink without all her tubes.
Once she had passed, we took her home. Her big sister Edie just wanted to take Wren home. So with my dad driving, Matt in the back between car seats holding Wren and Edie’s hands we made our last trip home together as a family of four.
We were greeted at 2am in the morning by the funeral director where he took our baby girl, the hardest moment to ever endure was letting our baby girl go.
I am grateful for the 8 days that we had but I mourn the life that she should have had, the life she deserved and the earthside baby sister for Edie.
Maddy & Matt, Wren's Parents
