Config problems - NGINX reverse proxy to Apache server for multiple subdomains

I will admit right off the bat I seem to be in over my head. I am a simple hobbyist.

I am trying to set up a website with multiple subdomains:

example.com
blog.example.com
cloud.example.com

I have Debain 10 installed on a VPS (Kamatera) and using *just* apache, I can browse each url and view a unique html page.

I then tried to set up nginx as a reverse proxy and despite scouring the net for days and making at least 10 different attempts...no luck. I seem to be missing something fundamental.

I believe DNS settings are correct (like I said, with apache alone, it's working):
Type Name Value
A @ 1.2.3.4 (of course not really)
A blog 1.2.3.4
A cloud 1.2.3.4

I have this added to apache2.conf file:

NameVirtualHost 1.2.3.4:8080

<VirtualHost 1.2.3.4>
ServerName www.example.com
ServerAlias example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost 1.2.3.4>
ServerName blog.example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/blog
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost 1.2.3.4>
ServerName cloud.exmaple.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/cloud
</VirtualHost>

I have set /etc/apache2/port.conf to:
Listen 127.0.0.1:8080

These are my nginx.conf entries:

       server {
                listen          80;
                server_name     example.com;
                location / {
                        root /var/www/html;
                        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
                        proxy_redirect http://127.0.0.1:8080/ http://example.com/;
                        proxy_set_header Host $host;
                        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

                }
        }

       server {
                listen          80;
                server_name     blog.example.com;
                location / {
                        root /var/www/html/blog;
                        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
                        proxy_redirect http://127.0.0.1:8080/ http://blog.example.com/;
                        proxy_set_header Host $host;
                        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

                }
        }

       server {
                listen          80;
                server_name     cloud.example.com;
                location / {
                        root /var/www/html/cloud;
                        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
                        proxy_redirect http://127.0.0.1:8080/ http://cloud.example.com/;
                        proxy_set_header Host $host;
                        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

                }
        }

The trouble I am having is that browsing subdomains defaults to the home page html in /var/www/html. I have not successfully configured nginx so that I can browse the subdomains.

Ports:

orrin@orrin-cloud:~/old-nginx-attempt/nginx$ sudo netstat -anp | grep apache
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:8080          0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      26156/apache2       
orrin@orrin-cloud:~/old-nginx-attempt/nginx$ sudo netstat -anp | grep nginx
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:80              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      26458/nginx: master 
unix  3      [ ]         STREAM     CONNECTED     226198   26458/nginx: master  
unix  3      [ ]         STREAM     CONNECTED     226197   26458/nginx: master

Any ideas? I am wondering if this is because there is nothing in my sites-available/enabled directories except default settings? Strangely enough with apache alone that somehow works.

proxy_redirect is for different purposes. just use proxy_pass http://domain.example.org:8080/
And imo actually just use nginx.