A year ago, Cooper Fardell was in hospital, wired to monitors and needing help just to breathe.
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Having now celebrated his first birthday "Super" Cooper has recovered from the setbacks that came from being premature.
Mum Erin said she'd had no indication there was an issue during her pregnancy with Cooper. She and husband Sam already had daughter Penny - who was induced at 42 weeks - and were not anticipating problems with the second pregnancy.
Doctors have never been able to pinpoint exactly why Mrs Fardell's waters broke early.
"I was at work, went to hospital and it was a couple of hours and I was in Canberra," Mrs Fardell said.
Mrs Fardell was able to be transferred back to Wagga Base Hospital when she reached 32 weeks' gestation. Cooper was born via Caesarean-section at 33 weeks. He weighed five pounds.
"It was horrible," Mrs Fardell said. "Penny was a miracle, magical birth compared to this one.
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"This one was the complete opposite. I don't think we could have had any more cords or tubes attached to us.
"Once we got home, I think I spent two or three weeks with him, pretty much in solitude. I pretty much wanted to be away from everyone for a while.
"I had a fair bit of emotion to get through. It was the unknown. When we were in hospital, we didn't know when he was coming. Every day you went for a test, you were just waiting to see if his heart was beating and every morning you would wait for him to start moving, just to make sure he was doing what was he was supposed to do."
After his premature arrival and four weeks in hospital, Cooper is doing well.
"Obviously, we still have to keep an eye on him. We have a few more doctors visits. We don't want to risk anything with him, particularly in cold and flu season, because he has been into hospital a few times," Mrs Fardell said.
Premature babies most frequently encounter issues with their lungs and Cooper has been hospitalised twice since he was born.
"Every time I look at him, I'm just so grateful. Just because it was so hard. But I'm just so grateful we were able to have him safely," Mrs Fardell said. "As Sam said, 50 years ago, we wouldn't have been able to."
