A tiny premature baby who was born weighing only 351 grams at just over 21 weeks gestation has become Australia’s smallest premature baby to survive.
Makerita Tanuvasa, who is affectionately known by her middle name, Miracle, measured only 30.5 cm when she was born at only 21 weeks and 3 days gestation. This is so premature that resuscitation is not usually an option.
“I took one look at her and I was like, ‘There’s no way she’s going to make it’,” her mother, Annrose Tanuvasa, remembers thinking. Fortunately, she was wrong.
“It was just like she was here to fight”, she said.
Following her birth, baby Miracle was kept in an incubator in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), covered in cables and tubes to help save her life.
Her father, Misi, said, “We weren’t able to hold her, but she was very, very small”.
After four weeks, her parents were finally able to hold her for the first time.
“It was magical, but it was also very scary, holding such a tiny baby”, Annrose said.
Being born at such a young gestational age meant that Miracle was the most premature baby ever to survive in Australia. Having such a tiny and premature baby survive left her doctors with a sense of awe and surprise.
“Even the doctors couldn’t explain how she was able to survive everything she’s gone through”, father Misi revealed.
Annrose added that one doctor said, “‘We can’t give you any answers. Everything is actually just a miracle’. And I just said, ‘well, let’s keep it like that’”, unveiling how baby Miracle got her middle name. She remained in the NICU of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital for 14 weeks.
“Every visit, it was like real quiet, like almost like no one wanted to tell us, ‘we don’t know if she’s going to survive or not’”, her mother confessed. “But I think after one month, it just started to get real bright in the room”.
After fourteen weeks, baby Miracle was transferred to a special care nursery, where she remained until she was over four months old, when she was finally discharged.
Registered nurse Renee Judd said, “I haven’t seen a 21-plus-three-weeker”.
“We’ve had other little babies here, but not that young, and I have been 16 years in the neonatal journey in Logan”, she added.
When Miracle was finally discharged from the hospital, the doctors and nurses who cared for her lined the hallways to cheer her on as she finally went home for the first time.
“Thank you guys so much for all the love and care you gave our daughter, the nurses, the doctors, the cleaners, social workers”, Annrose said. “Thank you guys so much for everything”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is fantastic to hear that baby Miracle – so fittingly named – is now thriving at home after having such a difficult start to her life”.
“She has now become the youngest premature baby to survive in Australia, and we are sure that her parents must be so grateful and proud of their little fighter”.
