Meeya Wright, 25, Croydon South, Vic
Watching the news, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. They're blowing this swine-flu thing out of proportion, I thought, dismissing the newsreader's warnings.
It was early June 2009 and while I knew lots of Victorians were coming down with swine flu, I'd heard it wasn't any worse than the normal seasonal flu.
I'm not getting taken in by all the hype, I decided.
Towards the end of the month, my asthma started playing up. I haven't even been overdoing it, I thought, annoyed.
At seven months pregnant, I knew it was important to stay healthy, so I made sure I took it easy for the rest of the week.
Unfortunately my asthma worsened and I was coughing nonstop. I decided to head to hospital when I started coughing up a bit of blood. I was given a prescription for antibiotics.
'I've got a chest infection,' I shrugged to my husband Sam, 25. 'I wonder where I picked that up from.'
'Maybe when you went out shopping,' he suggested.
It was true. When I'd taken our daughter Sienna, three, and son Levi, 11 months, to the shops people had been coughing and spluttering everywhere. I'd whizzed through the aisles, trying to get out quickly.
The day after my hospital visit was Levi's first birthday and my parents Len, 75, and Wanpen, 57, were flying in from Queensland to stay for the week.
Fortunately, I was feeling much better. These antibiotics must be working, I thought as I tidied up the house before Mum arrived.
'Meeya, you don't look well,' Mum said as soon as I opened the front door. 'I'm fine,' I shrugged. 'I'm on antibiotics.'
'You should go to hospital,' she persisted. 'We'll see,' I said.
That night, I seemed to be doing okay but waking up Tuesday morning, I was freezing. I was so cold my teeth were chattering and I barely managed to get my parka and trackies on.
Sitting in the bathroom, leaning over the air vent, I tried to warm up.
Then the bathroom door flew open. Taking one look at me Sam said, 'I'm taking you to hospital.'
Arriving at Maroondah Hospital, I was seen straight-away. 'We need to put a central line in your neck,' the doctor said.
I wasn't sure what it was for, but he seemed to think it was pretty urgent. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop coughing long enough for the doctor to get the line in. 'We're going to have to sedate you,' he said.
Looking at Sam, I didn't understand why things were now getting so serious.
'You'll be fine, I'll see you soon,' Sam smiled, giving my hand a squeeze.
Waking up slowly, my head felt foggy. 'Meeya, we need you to cough,' I could hear someone saying.
'Cough, Meeya,' they repeated.
Coughing, I could feel tubes being pulled out of my throat. Opening my eyes, I didn't know what was going on. But nurses were smiling at me.
Suddenly Sam was by my side. 'We've had a little baby girl,' he beamed.
I blinked in disbelief. I could hear what he was saying, but I didn't quite understand what he meant.
Waking up again later, my head felt a bit clearer. Looking at Sam, I tried to figure out what exactly was going on.
'Meeya, you've been very sick,' he explained. 'We're at Box Hill Hospital. You've been in a coma for eight days. You had swine flu and pneumonia.'
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I was trying to process what Sam had said but everything felt surreal. I certainly wasn't prepared for what came next.
'Doctors had to do an emergency caesarean,' he said emotionally. 'We've had a baby girl and she's doing just fine.'
My baby, I thought, remembering I'd been pregnant.
Frantically I tried to arrange my thoughts. But my head kept getting stuck on random words... swine, baby, coma.
'Why'd they take her out?' I finally managed to ask.
'Because they needed to give you heavy doses of antibiotics and it was too dangerous for her,' Sam answered softly, adding that the baby was also pushing up against my lungs, which was dangerous for me.
'When can I hold her?,' I choked, fighting back tears.
'Not just yet,' Sam said. 'Tomorrow, if you keep improving, you might be able to come out of intensive care.'
I felt emotional and exhausted. I'd had a baby and didn't even remember it.
Looking down at my belly it was still swollen and round. I couldn't believe my baby wasn't still inside of me.
Over the next two days I had to stay in intensive care. I couldn't see my baby as she was in a humidicrib in another part of the hospital.
It was heartbreaking.
She'd been born two months premature and my swine flu had almost killed her.
'She's tiny, but she's doing okay,' Sam promised.
'I haven't even held her yet and I won't be able to breastfeed her like I did with Sienna and Levi,' I said.
With tears pricking my eyes, I tried to think of something else as Sam went to check on her.
How did I get swine flu? I wondered. And then it came to me. It wasn't a chest infection that I'd caught out shopping - it was swine flu. Shaking my head, I wished I'd taken the news warnings more seriously.
On my third day out of ICU, I was finally allowed to hold our little girl.
'She's a miracle,' I whispered to Sam when she was wheeled into my room in a humidicrib.
Weighing only 1950 grams, she was as light as a feather, but still perfect. Cradling her in my arms, I knew she was a part of me. 'We've gone through so much,' I told her. 'Thank God we made it.'
Today, three weeks since I was put in a coma, my little girl, Jada, and I are doing well.
My lungs had been ravaged by infection but thankfully I'm now on the mend.
Jada is growing quickly and doctors are confident we'll soon be able to go home.
Sam and my parents keep telling me how lucky I am to be alive. I'm just so grateful that all our prayers were answered.
If it wasn't for the amazing team at Box Hill Hospital, swine flu could've stolen two lives.
Thanks to them, I know that Jada and I will live every day to the fullest.
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