Meet SA’s cutest miracle bubs for 2022

Babies can be the final piece of the puzzle for families and for others, they are just the beginning. For these mums, their bubs are extra special.

Every newborn is a miracle and captures the heart of those around them.

We asked you to share adorable photos of your babies over the new year and you sure delivered.

After hundreds of submissions with both heartwarming and heartbreaking stories, we wanted to highlight the families and the mothers whose journeys were extra special.

Meet some of SA’s miracle babies below.

Natasha Greenwood and Mila

Mila Greenwood.

For Natasha Greenwood, the dream of becoming a mother almost seemed out of reach after emergency surgery as a teenager.

“In 2010 I had surgery that saw my right ovary and fallopian tube removed,” Mrs Greenwood said.

“I was 15 at the time and they told me this would severely impact my ability to have a child.

“Fast forward to 2019 and I was having constant dreams about having a baby and people telling me in my dreams to go and see a fertility specialist.

“My egg count was the lowest they’d seen for anyone my age.

“I had two options - try straight away or freeze my eggs.”

Mrs Greenwood said her chances to fall pregnant were slim but she remained positive it would eventually happen.

“We prayed a lot, and the first time we tried, pregnant!” she said.

“Against all odds, with a shocking pregnancy and a very traumatic birth, Mila was born happy, healthy and cute as a button.

“Mila is our miracle baby.

“Our beautiful girl loves to smile, play with her furry brother and has just realised she has hands and feet.”

Kirralee Thomas and Aliyah

Aliyah Patterson.

For Kirralee Thomas and her baby girl Aliyah, it wasn’t all smooth sailing with trips in and out of hospital for nearly two months.

“Aliyah was a very sick baby for five out of 11 weeks of her life and spent them in hospital,” Ms Thomas said.

“At 10 days, Aliyah come down with an infection, sepsis and query meningitis.

She was flown from Port Pirie via helicopter to the Women’s and Children’s hospital in Adelaide where she was treated by an amazing triage team of doctors and nurses.”

After three days in Adelaide, Ms Thomas and Aliyah were taken by the Royal Flying Doctors plane back to Port Augusta where they spent three weeks in hospital on IV antibiotics to ensure the infection never reached meningitis fully.

“The nurses all absolutely loved her, she would scream for her bottles and suck them like a maniac because she was so hungry all the time,” Ms Thomas said.

“After those 21 days were up, you would have never had known she was as unwell as she was.

“Today, Aliyah is such a beautiful, happy little soul.

“She talks and babbles, is always smiling at her mum and dad and loves being visually stimulated by anything.

“She is one of a kind.”

Lisa Pearce and Rip

Rip Pearce.

For Lisa Pearce and her family, their little Rip was the missing piece of a long awaited puzzle.

“The heartache of the last eight years was absolutely worth it,” Mrs Pearce said.

“For eight years we tried, we had multiple failed rounds of IVF, four losses, a touch and go pregnancy before we were finally able to welcome our little miracle at 35 weeks.

“He spent 16 days in the Special Care Nursery before he was finally allowed to come home to complete our family.”

Mrs Pearce said her 14-year-old son Tanner has been smitten with his little brother since arriving home.

“Tanner adores his little brother,” she said.

“It was not easy, and at times completely heart-breaking, but my husband Harrison and I stayed strong and supported each other through a barrage of emotions.

“Rip has taught us all to be resilient in the face of despair and to never give up on your dreams.”

Nadia Guscia and Nathaniel

Nathaniel Guscia.

With an almost zero per cent chance of conceiving naturally, Nadia Gusica and her husband began a 13-month journey to parenthood.

“We had fertility tests done and mine came back fine but his showed that his sperm had less than two per cent moving or to be of a normal shape,” Mrs Gusica.

“I was tracking everything and doing everything right but we knew there might be issues due to hubby having cancer when he was younger.

“We got into a fertility specialist pretty quickly who confirmed that IVF would be our only option.”

After purchasing all the medication and attending all of their IVF appointments, Ms Guscia was about to embark on her first IVF round.

“I just had to wait for my period to start and we would start the IVF that cycle,” she said,

“Only my period never came and it turned out by some miracle I had gotten pregnant naturally - on the one month we had pretty well given up hope.

“Our baby Nathaniel was born on December 12, 2021, and is doing great.

“We named him after my husband’s best friend who died a couple of years ago from cancer.

“I do think we’ll want another child.

“I’m not sure we can be blessed with a miracle again but fingers crossed.”

Simona Bronzi and Harrison and Oliver

Harrison and Oliver Stoks.

Simona Bronzi and her partner welcomed their twin boys Harrison and Oliver on December 14, 2021.

“Oliver was home after five days and Harrison was in hospital for 24 days, spending his first Christmas with the wonderful neonates staff at Flinders Medical Centre,” Ms Bronzi said.

“Harrison was born with fluid on his lungs, and required oxygen for the time that he was in hospital due to prematurity.”

Ms Bronzi said they visited Harrison everyday to ensure they still had the family time together.

“It was really hard having one baby in hospital and one at home and I felt so much sadness that we couldn’t be together as a family,” she said.

“We had no indication of when Harrison might come home and I worried about him.

“The boys are now four months old, full of smiles and giggles and we’re so grateful that our little family is home and thriving.”

Rebecca Kakoschke and Liam

Liam Kakoschke-Mcgee.

At 40, Rebecca Kakoschke welcomed Liam into the world - some 21 years after her first child.

“At the age of 39, I was single having fun and playing local footy for Eastern Park football club,” Ms Kakoschke said.

“In about round 10 of footy I just didn’t feel right so I did a pregnancy test just in case and yes it came back positive.

“I was pregnant.”

After a blood test, Ms Kakoschke found out she was eight weeks along and due to have her baby after she turned 40.

“I was so scared to have a baby at 40 and to tell people, everyone was very surprised but supportive,” she said.

“My daughter was my support person when I gave birth.

“She loved seeing her baby brother born and have a close bond.

“He is now nine weeks old happy and healthy.

“I am lucky to have Liam’s dad in his life and so much support from family and friends.

“He is such a cute and amazing baby boy who is the world to us all.”

Emma Miaco and Xavier

Xavier Miaco.

After being crowned the “littlest man on the ward”, Xavier and his mum Emma Miaco are thriving.

“He was born a couple of weeks early and was quite a small bubba – only 2.3kg due to some growth restrictions from the placenta,” Mrs Miaco said.

“I was originally scheduled for a C-section on February 14, however, he decided to enter the world in his own time.

“He broke my waters at 2.30am on February 5 and we still had to do the C-section as he was still in the breech position.

“I was in labour for only six hours.

“I ended up experiencing the full labour with no pain medication, not in the labour ward or in theatre either, I experienced all stages of labour in my patient room as I was waiting for the anaesthetist.”

After being in excruciating pain, Mrs Miaco said Xavier began to pop out of her.

“I was trying to squeeze him in,” she said.

“If he was head first, I was told he would have flown out.

“I laid down on the surgical bed and about five to 10 minutes later, I was holding my beautiful, tiny, crying baby boy in my arms with a full head of beautiful dark hair.”

Now two months on, Xavier is continually growing and putting on weight and is above the average in weight gain per week.

“I recovered very well from the birth with continual support from my husband, our family and friends.

“I am really enjoying motherhood and bonding as a family.

“I would do it all again in a heartbeat.”

Tayla Reiman and Irelia

Irelia Anderson.

After many failed fertility treatments and surgeries, Tayla Reiman and her partner welcome their ray of sunshine, Irelia.

“We are so thankful to have her every day,” Ms Reinman said.

After juggling both PCOS and endometriosis we knew the journey to being parents would be tough and it definitely delivered but she is worth every injection.”

“She smiled at seven weeks for the first time and has been spreading joy with her beautiful smile ever since.”

The young family has been busy exploring the city, with Irelia watching her first game of AFL at the beginning of the month.

“She’s just learnt to roll in the last week so you can’t take your eyes off her - she rolls all day and unfortunately a lot of the night,” Ms Reinman said.

“She’s growing so fast.”

Lisa Reynolds and Mabel

Mabel Reynolds.

For Lisa and Tom Reynolds, their little miracle Mabel Raine has brought something extra special into their lives.

“She was our only embryo that made it to freeze, our rainbow baby after a previous loss,” Mrs Reynolds said,

“She has the most hair I’ve ever seen on a baby and bubbly bright blue eyes.

“There is something extra special about her.”

On the day of their first scan, Mrs Reynolds said there was the biggest rainbow out the fertility clinic window, prompting the couple to give their child the middle name of Raine.

“She brings so much joy and happiness to our lives, watching her personality and curiosity develop each day is just so special,” she said.

“We are so grateful to finally be blessed with a baby and be parents.

“It’s definitely the best job in the world.”