A Granny’s Perspective: Watching Generations of Premature Miracles Grow
As told by Ellen’s mum, who is also Jackson’s very proud granny, Fiona Cameron.
On June 29, 1996, Ellen and Scott Cole entered the world at 28 weeks gestation at National Women’s Hospital in Auckland — to the shock of their parents, Fiona (me) and Neville. Ellen weighed 850g and Scott 1.1kg. Ellen ended up losing 20% of her birthweight and was 690g at her smallest. The twins spent 9½ weeks in hospital and came home weighing just 2kg and 2.8kg. Our NICU journey had all the usual road bumps along the way, but on the whole, they progressed well and were mostly without complications.
Roll on 30 years, and Ellen, a nurse at Starship Hospital, and Matt Howley were parents to 2-year-old Isla, and Ellen was pregnant with their second baby. Her pregnancy had complications right from the start, and she was unwell through most of the time. Despite that, I was definitely not prepared for the 7am phone call asking me to come and look after Isla when Ellen’s waters broke at 29 weeks gestation.
The next few weeks were very stressful, with Ellen in two different hospitals and very unwell with ongoing complications, until Jackson made his entry into the world on September 14, 2025, at 33 weeks and 2 days gestation. I took heart that his 1.54kg birthweight was twice that of his mum when she was born. And unlike his mum and his uncle Scott, he didn’t need to start life on a ventilator but did need CPAP for his first week.
I actually think watching my daughter go through the prem baby journey was at least as stressful as going through it myself because I was worried about her as well as Jackson. Their journey involved three different hospitals, but eventually they made it home when Jackson was 37 weeks gestation.
There have been some ongoing complications, which they have been told shouldn’t be anything serious, and as I write this, Jackson is now looking like a healthy newborn and weighs over 3kg.
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.
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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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