By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
NADINE Castillo said her family was complete when she finally got to bring her baby son home from hospital last month.
Lucas was born a month and half prematurely and was forced to stay in a hospital bed for nearly four weeks while he was monitored closely by doctors and nurses.
But after finally coming home, Lucas is fighting fit and ready to take on the world.
It caps off a whirlwind few months for Nadine and her husband, Josh. In April the couple turned their engagement party and baby shower – held at Josh’s parents’ Tooradin farm – into a surprise wedding, with Nadine ducking away to put on a her white wedding dress.
Then three days later Lucas was born six weeks ahead of schedule, with his planned due date set for early June. Nadine was travelling to the city to pick up her marriage certificate when she started feeling contractions.
With her tongue in her cheek, Nadine said Lucas’s birth – explained by hospital staff as a “spontaneous labour” – was perhaps instigated by all the stress of the surprise wedding.
“Carrying him in my stomach for not even nine months, I felt really empty when he was out and when he was in hospital but having him home really does complete the whole family,” Nadine said.
“Going through all that was worth it.
“That sort of anxiousness, it disappears after having him home and knowing he’s doing well.”
While Nadine admits the weeks waiting for Lucas were emotionally draining, she said Josh always encouraged her to stay positive and gave her a shoulder to lean on.
“It was emotionally very heart-breaking but Josh was actually more stable than me, he was not letting anything get to him,” she said.
Nadine and Josh’s surprise wedding was certainly a shock for the guests who had gathered at the family farm for a mere baby shower. Within hours Nadine was walking down the aisle inside a hidden shed on the Tooradin property.
“We wanted to get married before June 6 when the baby was due, I kind of felt it was the right thing to do so we could settle in and enjoy our new life,” Nadine said.
“We were engaged in February so it all happened very quickly. Josh’s sister Isabel said why don’t you have a surprise wedding – and we did!
“We were so excited to see the look on everyone’s face.”
