At Earlybirds, we often hear from families who walk the unexpected path through the NICU and while each story is different, all are connected with stories of strength, hope and love. One of the most overlooked parts of the NICU journey can be the siblings left to navigate this strange new world alongside their parents.
We’re honoured to share a new book by Jayne Case, a NICU mum who turned a deeply personal NICU journey into a beautiful resource for families just like hers. Her experience led to the creation of "Counting On You", a children’s book written by a NICU mum for NICU siblings, offering comfort, connection and understanding when it's needed most.
We asked Jayne to share her story with our Earlybirds community and hope you enjoy reading about her experience and the inspiration to help others that came from such a challenging time.
“Counting on You”: How One Mum Turned Her NICU Experience into a Story of Support for Siblings - Words below by Jayne Case
Our journey to becoming a NICU family began in my third trimester of pregnancy with our third son. He was breech from about 27 weeks, when it was still too early to worry about, but he firmly stayed breech, despite all kinds of weird and wonderful ways of trying to get him to turn in time for birth.
It was at the 36-week ultrasound to see if we could try an ECV that we discovered something was up with his kidneys. The bladder and kidneys were both enlarged and full of fluid, so were his little ureters—which were holding so much fluid they looked like rivers in flood. We were sent to another hospital straight away, but living in regional Northern Tasmania, we needed to transfer to Hobart for high-risk obstetric care.
What we thought would be a day trip to Hobart for appointments and scans turned into a six-week NICU and Ronald McDonald House stay. We had to pull our two older sons out of school and relocate south ‘for the duration’.
Hobart is three hours’ drive from our house, it was nearly Christmas, and it is no exaggeration to say our family’s whole world turned upside down. Our little country bumpkin ADHD kids were so out of place in the city. They were 5 and 8 at the time, and it was somewhat of a hair-raising experience on top of everything else going on.
We were as far away from our serene, planned homebirth as you can possibly get. This was the start of adopting the mantra and lifestyle of doing whatever it takes to keep our littlest love healthy and safe.
He needed to be born as soon as possible due to very low amniotic fluid (it was all stuck in his little renal system). Christmas was approaching, so the various medical teams were put together to ensure he’d still be able to receive the expert care, specialised imaging and surgical support he needed, even with lots of staff away for the holidays.
After he was born (at 37 weeks and 3 days via emergency caesarean), they confirmed his diagnosis of Posterior Urethral Valves (PUVs), and onto the wild medical roller coaster we went.
He suffered bilateral pneumothoraces immediately after birth due to his lungs not developing as they should, thanks to insufficient amniotic fluid. Over the first few days the NICU team stabilised his breathing before getting the surgery team involved. At 8 days old he had his first surgery to ablate the valves. He had five more surgeries over the next 18 months. The damage to his kidneys in utero means he’ll always be a “kidney kid” and require ongoing monitoring, management and support.
During our NICU stay, I looked around for a children’s book for my big kids but couldn’t find anything that explained the NICU experience in a way that would make sense to them as siblings. There are lots of beautiful story books about NICU, but they all seemed to be from the perspective of the baby or parents—lovely keepsakes to be read when the baby was older, but not helpful for what I needed at the time. When I couldn’t find the book I needed, I realised I was going to have to write it myself.
I sat with the idea for a while, and when my baby was about 5 months old, the story came to me in the middle of the night—kind of like magic! So I sat in my ensuite at 4am and wrote my first children’s book in the Notes app on my phone while my family slept.
My book, published in June 2025, is called Counting on You. It’s a NICU story told from the point of view of the baby's big brother—Otto. Otto’s mum has just given birth to his baby brother, but the baby needs some extra medical attention from the doctors and nurses in the NICU. While he waits for his baby brother to be well enough to come home, he learns about all the special machines and equipment in the NICU. There are lots of new big words to learn and lots of numbers to count, watch and calculate—perfect for our number-loving Otto.
Otto’s heartwarming story of connection and resilience helps him make sense of his family’s NICU journey. His hopeful and comforting story helps deepen compassion for our own and other people’s difficult stories.
The book is based in Hobart and features our beloved home-away-from-home—Ronald McDonald House. As a way of supporting other NICU families, I offer the option to “donate a copy” on my website. I send these donated books straight to NICU wards and families staying at Ronald McDonald Houses throughout Australia.
My ultimate goal, while supporting NICU siblings and families, is also to raise awareness for NICU life. I’d love to introduce non-NICU families to a world they will hopefully never have to experience. That’s how we develop empathy and understanding. I hope my book provides comfort and support, while also educating and normalising different stories for children. I truly believe that listening to others’ stories is a powerful way of becoming better, kinder humans—and the world needs more of those.
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us Jayne. We know so much will resonate with families who are or who have experienced a NICU journey with older children at home.
At Earlybirds, we believe in the power of storytelling to bring connection and healing to the NICU community. This story is a beautiful example of turning hardship into hope and of finding a way to help others through sharing one's personal journey, just like our own business and many others in our community.
If you’d like to learn more about Counting on You or donate a copy to a family in need, you can visit the author’s website www.threeharveys.com or Instagram @threeharveys
Let’s keep showing up for one another, one story at a time.
