Liliana, Charlotte, and Isabella’s story

The day triplets Liliana, Charlotte, and Isabella came into the world, could have been their mum’s last.

“We’d been trying to have a baby for six years. We’d had four miscarriages. It had been a very long and challenging journey.”

Aged 44 and pregnant with triplets, Leonie was at high risk of a complicated pregnancy. On bed rest with morning sickness from week seven, luckily, Leonie was already in hospital when she unexpectedly started having a seizure at 32 weeks pregnant.

Following their safe arrival, the girls were taken to Mater Mother’s Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU) and mum, Leonie to Intensive Care. Here she remained in an induced coma for the next 16 hours, to allow for testing on her heart and brain, to look for potential complications from a pre-birth seizure caused by eclampsia.

Leonie remembers her first cuddle as an intense moment.

“After five weeks [in NCCU and then Special Care] they all came home on the same day, which is a little miracle in itself.”

Today Leonie and the girls are doing well. Leonie and Peter are very grateful to Mater’s medical teams. They are also thankful for your support, which helped their girls to have the best possible start in life.

Much of the equipment in the NCCU and Special Care Unit has been purchased through the generosity and ongoing support of people like you.

Each year Mater Mothers’ Hospital deliver more than 12 000 babies and of these, 2 000 will require time in the NCCU and Special Care Unit. With each ticket that you buy, you are bringing hope and healing to our tiniest patients through supporting vital medical research, equipment, training, and education, all of which leads to exceptional patient care.