During a routine ultrasound at the Women’s, Adele De Bondi discovered her pregnancy was in trouble. Doctors explained that at 20 weeks pregnant, her baby was much smaller in size.
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Adele was treated with a course of steroids in the hope of stimulating her baby’s growth but, after another two weeks, it became apparent that Adele’s placenta was dying and, with it, her baby.
Adele’s daughter Elora was born by emergency caesarean on 29 January 2007 weighing a tiny 319 grams – 60 grams lighter than the required weight for ventilation and significantly smaller than most of the premature babies already in intensive care.
At the time of her birth, Elora was the smallest (by weight) surviving baby ever born at the Royal Women's Hospital. Whilst a miracle to have survived her birth, Elora had a long battle ahead and spent months in newborn intensive care at the Women’s.
“Surviving her own birth and being fitted to a ventilator was already more than many expected possible so I was sure that if she wanted to live, she would” Adele tells.
Throughout her battle, Elora experienced a range of set-backs and life threatening problems including two collapsed lungs, heart problems, scepticemia, several pulmonary bleeds and eye surgery.
Adele had enormous faith in her daughter’s ability to overcome the many challenges ahead of her and, with the support of her family, Adele watched as her daughter grew stronger and bigger.
Now, a year after her birth, Elora is at home with her mother and doing extremely well. “She is a very alert and happy little girl who is growing and developing well, and it is with eternal thanks and gratitude to the Royal Women’s Hospital that she is here,” says Adele.
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