- When Hannah Stenmark, 38, from Byron Bay, NSW, was rushed into a birthing suite at 27 weeks and three days, she was terrified.
- Born with a hole in his heart, baby Jett was put on life support for a collapsed lung and spent three months recovering in the NICU.
- After fighting for his life, Jett, now five years old is the best big brother to baby Ruka.
Here Hannah tells her story in her own words.
Cradling my growing belly, I couldn’t wait to meet our baby.
‘We love you so much,’ I whispered.
At 25 weeks along, my partner Nick, then 36, and I hadn’t yet bought any clothes for our bub, nor had we set up the nursery or got a pram.
‘There’s so much to do!’ I smiled at Nick, excited for our adventure ahead.
We decided to keep the gender a surprise, just hoping for a healthy baby. And our little one looked perfect at every scan.
But in January 2020, at 25 weeks, I felt a flurry of aggressive kicks.
‘Woah!’ I chuckled, rubbing my bump as my active baby moved like crazy inside me.
With no other pregnancy to compare it to, I tried not to worry and thought it was probably normal.
But a week on, while relaxing in a warm bath, a flash of excruciating pain exploded across my lower back.
Gripping the sides of the tub, I tried to ease myself out of the water, but was seized with another burst of agony.
I couldn’t get out – I was trapped in the bath!
By the time Nick got home, about an hour later, I was beside myself.
READ MORE: ‘Tiny Harry: ‘My premmie baby wore my ring on his arm’
Hearing the key in the lock, I asked him to help me.
‘My back’s hurting!’ I exhaled between severe cramps.
‘Let’s get you help,’ he said, as he gently eased me out of the now tepid bath.
Helping me into the car, Nick drove to Northern Beaches Hospital, NSW.
In emergency, a doctor did an internal swab to determine whether I was in preterm labour.
‘Something isn’t right!’ I screamed in pain, suddenly feeling contractions.
‘Your baby wants to come now. We need to do everything we can to keep them inside,’ a doctor said.
‘Something isn’t right.’
Whisked by ambulance to Royal North Shore Hospital, I couldn’t believe this was our reality. Stay in there, bub, I pleaded.
Rushed into a birthing suite, I was given meds to slow down labour.
Doctors also administered two rounds of steroids to help our baby’s lungs mature more quickly, just in case.
For the next three nights, waves of intense agony rolled over me.
‘Everything is going to be okay,’ Nick soothed, by my side the whole time.
After four days of hell, I gave birth naturally to our baby boy.
Born three months early at 27 weeks and three days, our tiny son weighed just 1.057 kilos.
READ MORE: ‘Miracle twins – Born three months early’
As soon as he arrived, our bub was sped off to the NICU.
I barely caught a glimpse of him.
Terrifyingly, soon after, a doctor told us our son had been born with a hole in his heart and stage two retinopathy, an eye disease that can impair vision and even lead to blindness.
Seeing our baby snaked by tubes inside his incubator a couple of hours later was heartbreaking.
‘I wish I could hold him,’ I sobbed to Nick as he held me tight.
I was able to go home four days after giving birth, but Nick and I went to the hospital every day and night to check on our boy.
‘We believe in you, little guy,’ I told our baby.
‘I wish I could hold him.’
Two weeks after he was born, we named him Jett.
Thankfully, after a course of meds, the hole in Jett’s heart closed at 23 days old.
But then everything took a turn one night in May when Jett was 25 days old.
‘He vomited overnight into his mask and inhaled it. Now one of his lungs has collapsed,’ a doctor told us.
Because he wasn’t able to breathe, Jett was put on life support.
But, amazingly, after just five days, our little fighter bounced back.
READ MORE: ‘Darling Daisy: The premature baby born tinier than a tub of butter’
When our brave boy was 77 days old, he underwent eye surgery as, due to his retinopathy progressing to stage four, his right retina had started to detach.
Soon after, at three months old, Jett was finally discharged.
Being at home with Jett was so surreal.
‘We can finally start our life with you,’ I kissed him.
Moving up to Byron Bay as a family in mid-2020 for my work, we adjusted to our new life.
‘We can finally start our life with you.’
But every three months, we’d go back to Sydney to have Jett’s eyes checked.
He also had really intensive one-on-one care with therapists at Royal North Shore, which helped him hit his milestones and make him into the beautiful, bubbly, kind boy he is today.
By the time I was pregnant with my second child, Jett’s vision was slowly getting better.
And when I gave birth to his brother Ruka in March 2024, Jett was besotted.
He is a brave big brother, and loves holding Ru and giving him kisses.
To honour Jett, now five, and other premmies, as well as help their parents, Nick wrote a book, which I illustrated called Your Little Head Start to inspire hope.
The Royal North Shore NICU bought 600 copies!
We’re so thankful our Jett is with us today, and that he fought to be here to meet his little brother.
We love him with all our heart.
