Hannah’s story is not unusual for the GV Health special care nursery team.
In 2020, 88 premature babies — either born at GV Health or transferred back from Melbourne — went through the nursery and 20 babies returned from Melbourne for ongoing care.
Among those 88 premature babies there were eight sets of twins.
This year to date, there hase been 67 premature babies, with nine returning from Melbourne for ongoing care.
Of the 67 premature babies there have been 12 sets of twins and a set of triplets.
“At our special care nursery we can care for babies born at 32 weeks, but babies don’t know that and they want to be born whenever and wherever – so we also stabilise babies born before 32 weeks here before they are transferred to Melbourne,” GV Health registered nurse Emma McDowell said.
“It’s so important to celebrate World Prematurity Day because premature babies are one of our major patient cohorts we see in the nursery.”