When Hannah Hocking was born at 26 weeks gestation, there were a lot of unknowns.
“Our aim was to get to 28 weeks, the likelihood of Hannah having fewer complications was really good,” Hannah’s mother, Tanya Henderson, said.
“But at 26 weeks we were lucky because the only complication was a small hole in the muscles around her heart and a valve in the heart wasn’t closing properly.
“So at the age of one she ended up having heart surgery to fix that.”
Hannah is the youngest of Mrs Henderson’s three children and was born on December 6 – months ahead of her March 11 due date – weighing 926 grams.
“At the time we had two boys at home, a four-year-old and a two-year-old. I was in hospital from week 17 and the hubby was at home with the two boys,” Mrs Henderson said.
“We were flown from Shepparton to Melbourne at 22 weeks because Hannah then had a chance.
“We held on for another four weeks and then I think I visited every labour ward in the Women’s every second day.”
Hannah was born at the Royal Women’s Hospital before being moved to the Mercy Hospital for Women where she spent 114 days in the neonatal intensive care unit, then in the special care nursery at Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton.
“They first sat her on my hand, and her little arms and legs dangled off the side, and she had this tiny little nappy on her,” Mrs Henderson said.
Mrs Henderson stayed nearby at Vizard House for the majority of those 114 days, and her husband and sons came to visit on weekends.
“It was a lot of traveling and a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. I remember at Christmas Hannah was really unwell,” Mrs Henderson said.
“I came home Christmas Eve thinking I could wake up at home with the boys on Christmas Day, because they had missed out on so much.
“We got a phone call pretty early on Christmas Day to say Hannah wasn’t doing well, and we headed back down.
“That was a really awful day; Hannah was really unwell and all the family ended up coming down to see Han just in case she didn’t pull through.
“Every Christmas you think of that time but also appreciate how lucky we are that she’s here and she’s okay.”
Being born prematurely has meant Hannah’s development was slower than a full-term baby.
“She has learning difficulties with ADHD, but we have an amazing paediatrician down in Melbourne who has helped Hannah since she was four and it’s going to be really sad to say goodbye to them,” Mrs Henderson said.
“He encouraged us the whole way through, saying ‘it will be okay, Hannah will be okay’ and look at her now, she’s healthy and about to go to uni.”
This week Hannah finished her final exams for Year 12 at St Augustine’s in Kyabram and is hoping to study in Ballarat to become a teacher.
“A lot of our teachers came from uni in Ballarat. Most of them either came from Federation Uni Ballarat, ACU in Melbourne or Bendigo,” Hannah said.
For Mrs Henderson, the biggest challenge now is saying goodbye to Hannah when she moves for her studies.
“The boys are already out of home so we’re used to not seeing the kids all the time, but in Han’s case it has been a little bit unique, it’s been the journey from keeping her alive to letting her go – it’s a little bit more of an intense journey,” Mrs Henderson said.