As told by mum, Tangiwai,

When I was 20 weeks pregnant I decided to have a joint gender reveal/baby shower celebration. My family thought I was crazy however little did we all know, our little miracle would make her appearance 3 weeks later.

After consulting my midwife via text I was admitted to hospital due to unexpected bleeding and after examination was told my membranes had ruptured and anything could happen. The first thing I was informed about was a steroid shot, I needed two of these 24 hours apart primarily used to speed up lung development in preterm fetuses should they decide to make their grand entrance early. I was given one of these shots along with a pill called Nifedipine to help stop the contractions. This pill only held off the contractions for so long.

24 hours later, I was given my second steroid shot and an hour later I felt the urge to go for #2, so I pushed and my waters broke, the second push was our beautiful tiny girl. I was very blessed to be able to give birth naturally as a scan earlier on in the day showed she was breach and being so tiny, I would’ve had to have undergone a vertical C-section and with babies this little, they are so small and fragile this procedure comes with many complications.

Kora was born at 23 weeks and 4 days gestation on 17 June 2019 at Auckland Hospital weighing only 585grams. We spent 9 weeks in Auckland Hospital NICU, and 8 weeks in North Shore Hospital SCBU and were very blessed to be discharged 3 days before her due date.

Although a long journey, we had a fairly good journey considering how teeny tiny she was. She suffered from two Intraventricular hemorrhages (brain bleeds) Grade 2 on the left and Grade 4 on the right.

She had retinopathy of prematurity which self resolved. In total she consecutively had 9 of those gruesome eye tests week after week.

She suffers Chronic Lung Disease as a result of her lungs being so weak. She was ventilated for 21 days, followed by CPAP, High flow oxygen and were finally discharged home on low flow oxygen where she remained on this for the next 3 months at home. We were also discharged on a Nasogastric feeding tube and remained on this for the next 6 months at home.

Today we have a happy, healthy 17 month old (13 months corrected) little girl. She is tiny for her age but meeting all developmental milestones.

We couldn’t have made it without the love, support, and hard work of all NICU/SCBU staff and nurses, and the wider community support team. They work tirelessly to ensure the best care for our babies and I will be forever grateful for all the love and care offered and continue to offer families to come.

Thank you all!

Tangiwai

 

***** Thanks so much for sharing Tangiwai *****

We get a lot of positive feedback from families in a neonatal unit who read these stories and feel strength, hope and positivity knowing that they are not alone going through these experiences and feeling certain emotions.

If you would like to discuss sharing the story of your neonatal journey, we’d love to hear from you. Please email info@littlemiraclestrust.org.nz 

 

 

 

If you want to help our support of families going through the stress and anxiety of a neonatal journey, you can donate here.

  • The Little Miracles Trust provides support to families of premature or sick full-term babies as they make their journey through Donate and support The Little Miracles TrustNeonatal Intensive Care, the transition home, and onwards. We do not receive any Government funding and are entirely reliant on the generosity of individuals, companies and organisations in the form of donations, value-in-kind donations, grants, sponsorship and fundraising events to supplement operating costs and fund our services and initiatives.
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