Mater Little Miracles
Every baby born at a Mater is affectionately known as a little miracle, but some newborns need intensive, round-the-clock specialist care. And when that happens, Mater is there.
Meet some Mater Little Miracles:
Meet Betty
Betty was born at just 24 weeks gestation, weighing only 670 grams. She was born on the very cusp of gestational viability, and Mum and Dad, Emma and Jack, knew Betty had a long journey ahead of her.
Emma, had a relatively uncomplicated pregnancy and the sudden and early arrival of Betty took their family by complete surprise.
When Betty was born, she was quickly transferred into the expert care at Mater Mothers’ Hospital.
“I heard Betty cry after she was born, but wasn’t able to see her as she required immediate support,” Emma reflects.
Betty was treated for injury to her oesophagus, and remained ventilated for the first six days of life. Most of all, she needed around-the-clock care just to keep her tiny, fragile body alive.
“It was about 48 hours before I was able to hold Betty for the first time—it isn’t normal to wait that long to hold your baby and need four people to transfer her to your chest,” Emma says.
Mater researchers work hard to unlock discoveries that protect extremely premature babies’ vital organs, such as brains and lungs—helping babies like Betty to survive and thrive into their futures.
In total, Betty spent 15 weeks at Mater Mothers’ Neonatal Critical Care Unit.
Emma remembers feeling reassured by all the incredible medical equipment that was helping to keep Betty breathing.
State-of-the-art equipment like the CPAP machine played a crucial role in Betty’s journey, allowing her lungs to grow stronger every day.
Meet Emerson
Mum, Bernadette, had a pregnancy that came with early complications. At her 20-weeks scan, Bernadette was told that doctors couldn’t see her baby, Emerson’s, stomach.
Bernadette was quickly referred to Mater, where it was confirmed that Emerson had Oesophageal Atresia—a rare birth defect where baby is born without the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach.
Soon after Emerson was born, doctors confirmed something no parent wants to hear. Emerson would not survive without surgery to repair and connect her vital organs.
But Emerson was too tiny and too fragile to undergo the operation. So instead of taking her baby home, Bernadette had to leave Emerson at Mater Mother’s Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU) for five and a half months.
During those months, Emerson clung on for survival, and Bernadette clung to the hope that one day, she’d take her baby girl home.
“I just didn’t expect how hard it would be leaving her there. I felt like I had lost a limb and I was leaving the hospital without a part of me,” Bernadette explained.
Thankfully, Mater Mothers’ expert doctors and nurses were there to provide vital medical care, and also emotional support for the whole family.
Eventually, Emerson was strong enough to have her surgery, and when the time came for the Murphy’s to take her home, they were overwhelmed with emotion.
“It’s just beyond words, you can’t even imagine how grateful you are to have your child… You have gratitude for the tiny little things that helped you survive,” Bernadette says.
“We are forever grateful to Mater Mothers’ Hospital—not just for the treatment they provided to Emerson, but for everything they did for us so we still felt like ‘mum and dad.’”
Meet Billie and Poppy
Mum and Dad, Marni and Lee, revel in the chaos of parenthood, happy to have their happy and healthy twin girls home after a tumultuous pregnancy journey.
Marni was 22 weeks pregnant with identical twins when they were diagnosed with a rare and potentially life-threatening medical condition.
Marni’s girls were diagnosed with Twin Anaemia Polycythaemia Sequence (TAPS)—a condition where blood flows unequally between twins who share a placenta and results in one fetus having a low blood count and the other fetus having a high blood count.
"There was a very real possibility that the girls weren’t going to make the pregnancy. But we had to put our trust in the doctors. We knew we were in the best hands," Marni said.
Marni was referred to the Mater Centre for Maternal Fetal Medicine at Mater Mothers’ Hospital where Dr Glenn Gardener cared for the unborn twin girls, performing two lifesaving, in utero blood transfusions.
Marni said she felt “scared” knowing the risks involved, but she was determined to give her daughters the best chance at life.
The in utero procedures were completed by a team of specialist that offer fetal therapies and surgeries that aren’t offered anywhere else in the country.
At 34 weeks’ gestation Marni’s precious girls, Billie and Poppy, arrived six weeks early and spent 10 days in the Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU).
“If it wasn’t for the team at Mater, our girls wouldn’t be here today,” Marni says.
Now, the girls are robust and healthy. Together we can help to change the lives of patients and their families.
