Small and Mighty Babies: UAE mothers band together for support

Joanne Hanson-Halliwell set up the Small and Mighty Babies support group after her son George was born almost two months premature.

George is now 2. After he was born two months early, his mother, Joanne Hanson-Halliwell, set up Small and Mighty Babies to help women through the traumatic time. Pawan Singh / The National

ABU DHABI // Born almost two months early, tiny George Hanson-Halliwell entered life with the odds stacked against him.

His mother, Joanne Hanson-Halliwell, was just 30 weeks into her pregnancy when she felt a crippling pain on her right side. “I rushed to the bathroom and it was clear I was haemorrhaging,” the 33-year-old Briton said. “I have never nor ever want to see that amount of blood again. I was petrified.”

Doctors at Dubai’s City Hospital told her she was having a placental abruption, a complication of pregnancy in which the placental lining separates from the uterus.

“Both the baby and I were compromised,” said Ms Hanson-Halliwell. “The doctor said ‘this baby has to come out now’. There was no time to waste.”

George was born in May 2013, and taken straight to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where he spent the next five weeks. The baby had a severe infection while in hospital and was also diagnosed with patent ductus arteriosus, a congenital disorder of the heart.

“He was unable to breathe on his own,” said Ms Hanson-Halliwell. And she was unable to hold her firstborn until he was 10 days old.

“A lot of people come in and out of NICU and it can be a very, very lonely place,” she said. “It is very frightening and even more so as an expatriate when you have not got your family around you. It just struck a chord.”

Ms Hanson-Halliwell felt that more support was needed for parents of premature babies. So she set up Small and Mighty Babies with the help of other mothers she met in the NICU.

The group puts new mums in touch with other parents of premature babies who know how it feels to go through the enormously stressful situation of an early birth, and who have experienced the same fears over their children’s future.

Speaking to other mums who have been in similar situations can help new parents feel less isolated and alone, Ms Hanson-Halliwell said.

“It is not like going to a normal new mothers’ expatriate coffee morning,” she said. “With a premature baby your problems are so much greater. You need to get weight on them, they have breathing issues, some are still on ventilators at home.”

The group now has dozens of members – even new mums who are still in hospital after a premature birth who reach out for support through email.

Rebecca Whittfield, in Dubai, contacted the group after her son, Brooklyn Lee Whittfield, was born in January this year at just 27 weeks.

Ms Whittfield, 36, dismissed the severe stomach cramps that woke her that morning. She said: “This cannot be contractions, I thought.”

But when the contractions began to get stronger she went to City Hospital. Her son was born a little more than five hours later, weighing just 1kg. He spent two months in an NICU.

The Small and Mighty Babies group was recommended to her by a friend and, Ms Whittfield said, the group was very supportive during that difficult time.

“They are amazing,” she said. “I have got more support here than I would have got even back home. People I do not even know are just so helpful.”

The group now meets monthly. “We share stories, we share experiences and we share memories of how our tiny babies are growing,” said Ms Hanson-Halliwell, whose two-year-old is now thriving. “We would love to be there for anyone who is going through the emotions and experiences that we have shared.”

The group has a website: www.smallandmightybabies.com.