As told by mum, Laura
This was my second pregnancy which was much the same as my first with having a spinal injury, constant nausea, low moods and motivation and even carpel tunnel. Everything was tracking well and no concerns on all my scans and blood tests were normal.
At our 20 week scan we found out he’s another boy 🩵
At 29 weeks I had a spontaneous placenta abruption at home (I live rurally 1.5 hours from the nearest hospital). I was taken to Dunedin hospital by Otago rescue helicopters who gave me a drug to clot my bleeding which saved both of our lives. I was on bed rest and monitoring there for a week until I started haemorrhaging again while having breakfast.
Our son Tommy Tunnah was born via emergency caesarean under general on the 10th February at 30 weeks gestation weighing 1680grams.
Tommy required resuscitation at birth and developed a small pneumothorax. Once in the Dunedin NICU there was a small improvement every day.
My first hold with Tommy when he was 12 hours old ❤️🩵
However he did have the odd set back which I’m told was to be expected at that age with the what seemed like some days constant desaturations, IV lines in and out, troublesome PICC lines with one ending up tissued.
We enjoyed a lot of family time up there, myself, Tommy’s dad and George, around his incubator. His big brother called it a cabinet and always wanted to open the window of Tommy’s cabinet to hold his hand 🥹
Once Tommy reached the 32 week gestation milestone we were transferred to a neonatal unit closer to home in Southland. Here he continued to thrive growing and feeding, having his many firsts visits from family and loved ones. He then went on to develop supraventricular tachycardia and subsequently started on a beta blocker.
Once strong enough and of age he got to have his first cuddle with his big brother who had waited so patiently for a long month and a half for! Brought tears to my eyes and still does.
Tommy spent 2 months here while making lots of friends and spending his down time feeding and sleeping and entertaining the nurses with his little premmie baby goat noises 🥰
He was discharged home 10 days before his due date which some days I never thought would happen after what felt like such a long road.
One week later we all took Tommy to Christchurch for a bilateral inguinal hernia repair. He spent one night in hospital recovering.
Tommy is now just over 6 months old now a corrected 4 months and growing like a little weed . We’re so proud of how far he has come and is still going.
We’ve never been more happy now we’re all back together.
Biggest thanks to;
St John
Otago Rescue Helicopters
Queenmary Dunedin
Dunedin NICU
The Little Miracles Trust
Skyline Aviation Air Ambulance
Southland Neonatal Unit
Southland Ronald McDonald House
Thanks so much for sharing your personal story
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
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- The Little Miracles Trust provides support to families of premature or sick full-term babies as they make their journey through Neonatal 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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