Fermanagh family grateful for TinyLife support following birth of premature baby

In 2020, Joanne McNulty, from Belleek, and her partner Shane Whitman, welcomed their baby boy Finn into the world. However, he arrived much earlier than the couple expected.

After Joanne's waters broke at 30 weeks, she was taken to Antrim Area Hospital where medical staff closely monitored her and her unborn baby for signs of infection.

"They kept me going for two weeks, then all of a sudden, I started showing signs of infection, and basically that was the end of it – I had to get the baby out," Joanne told The Impartial Reporter, explaining that it was "quite traumatic".

She added: "It was in the middle of lockdown; there were no visitors or anything like that."

Joanne required a caesarian section and when Finn was born, eight weeks early, it was determined that he had an infection.

"So it was vital that I was expressing milk for him," she said.

This was when Joanne started to receive support from TinyLife, Northern Ireland’s premature and vulnerable baby charity.

"I was introduced to Tiny Life through the neo-natal nurses in Antrim. They advised me that the charity could help support me in providing my milk to Finn, so they provided me with a machine to express, for when I went home from the hospital.

"Finn's my first child, and the [provision of the milk-expressing machine] took away the whole hassle, worry and fear.

"When you're in the midst of it all, you are pretty much like a robot because you're constantly having to express every so often just to make sure that you're keeping yourself right.

"TinyLife provided the machinery and the support there obviously for me. That's where I found they really helped," said Joanne, explaining that she was especially grateful for the support during the difficult time when Finn was still in Antrim Area Hospital, but she had been discharged and was travelling from Belleek to see him.

"Finn was in hospital for four weeks. First of all he was in Antrim for about two and a half weeks, and the rest of the time he was in the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen.

"When we got him in to Enniskillen, it was a lot easier to give him milk," said Joanne.

Joanne McNulty with Finn.

Now 20 months old, Finn is a healthy baby. "He's well over it, and thank God we never looked back," said Joanne, noting that once Finn recovered from the infection, he went from "strength to strength".

"That was great because it was such a horrific time," she added, explaining that following Finn's birth by caesarian, she herself was unwell for a number of months.

"I had a caesarian and it ended up rupturing; that was a whole handling as well!

"I wasn't recovered really for three months after it; thank God Finn recovered a lot quicker than I did.

"He was grand, he was good to come home after four and a half weeks in neonatal, it was great," said Joanne.

After Joanne's positive experience with TinyLife following Finn's premature birth, the Northern Ireland Beef Shorthorn Club, of which Joanne's father, Emmett McNulty, is a committee member, have decided to support the charity this year.

Joanne said: "They would support a charity every year, and this is one that [dad] presented to support for this year based on the back of my experiences.

"It was good to get support from the charity itself, along with the equipment and it's great just to be able to give back something," she told this newspaper.

TinyLife, formerly NIMBA, is a small charity in Northern Ireland providing practical and emotional support to the families of premature and sick babies across the province through its raft of family support services.

Every day in Northern Ireland, six babies are born too soon, some arriving as early as 24 weeks and weighing as little as 1lb.

Adele Harris, TinyLife Area Fundraising Manager, added: “Without the tremendous support we receive from local people and clubs like the Northern Ireland Beef Shorthorn Club, we would not be able to continue to bring these services to local families in their time of need.”