Emma Hawkins opens up on motherhood, baby Primrose’s Easter emergency ahead of Mother’s Day

Emma Hawkins has opened up on the medical emergency which gave her and husband Tom the “scare of their lives”, and saw their newborn baby flown to hospital during what was meant to be a relaxing Easter weekend.

Emma Hawkins has opened up on a medical scare which saw her newborn daughter flown to hospital. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mother’s Day will hold a special meaning for Emma Hawkins this year.

Now a mother of two girls — Arabella, 2, and Primrose, 6 weeks — the wife of Geelong star forward Tom Hawkins said she felt extremely lucky to be celebrating Mother’s Day with her daughters.

EMMA AND TOM HAWKINS WELCOME SECOND BABY

SIMPLE RURAL LIFE’S A CHARM FOR HAWKINS

“It’s beautiful, but hectic and I just feel so lucky,” she said.

“I feel like the luckiest mum in the world at the moment to have two healthy girls. It’s more than I could ever dream or ask for or want in life,” she said from her home in the outskirts of Geelong.

Photographed for the first time with the two girls, Hawkins says the couple was given the “scare of their lives” over the Easter weekend when then-one-month-old Primrose was rushed from Emma’s family home in Deniliquin to Shepparton by ambulance, before being transferred by air to the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Tom Hawkins celebrates a goal by gesturing in honour of two-day-old Primrose. Pic: Michael Klein.

Now healthy, and back at home, Hawkins says her newborn, who they nicknamed Mimi, is fighting fit.

“She is absolutely fine, she is none the wiser; it’s more probably Tom and I,” she said.

“You always say when you are pregnant you just want a healthy baby and we had a healthy baby, we just had a scare.

“She had bronchiolitis, but she was so young that she wasn’t able to fight it herself. I was in Deniliquin so we had to get an ambulance and a plane.

“It’s very common — it’s a huge cold and flu season. It was just a little more dramatic because of where I was, geographically.

“We knew we were walking out with a healthy baby as soon as we got through it, but my heart just aches for the other mums and families that don’t.”

Hawkins said the humbling experience has given the RCH Good Friday Appeal a more personal meaning now.

“Being in the Royal Children’s, especially over Easter, we saw first hand how incredible they are,” she said.

“Which you know, because you donate every year, but when you are there and you are seeing it … they are miracle workers.

“The first night we were in there, despite not wanting to leave her, I needed to sleep. At 2am I called the nurse because I just wanted to see if she was OK, and the nurse said, ‘She is absolutely fine. I’m going to put the phone next to her, and you put the phone next to you and you can fall asleep’.

Emma Hawkins at home with her two daughters. Picture: Jason Edwards

HAWKINS ALL SMILES WITH STOLEN DRESS BACK

INSIDE THE HAWKINS’ RURAL HOME

“It’s just those little things that makes what the nurses and doctors so amazing; it’s how they treat the families, not just their patients that makes them so spectacular.”

Hawkins, who has signed on as an ambassador for Myer and is shooting a Mother’s Day campaign for the department store, said she was hoping for a quiet celebration next weekend.

“Obviously it’s been a hectic time since Mimi was born,” she said. “We had Mimi on the Wednesday and Tom had round one on the Friday and it’s been non-stop ever since.”

With Myer forecasting the sale of more than 30,000 candles and 20,000 sets of pyjamas in the lead-up to Mother’s Day, Hawkins said her top shopping tip was to spoil mum with something she wouldn’t buy herself.

“Myer has everything, I feel like you can send your husband there and they can be trusted,” she laughed.

“I’m pretty easy, Tom might differ, but I’m happy with pyjamas and a candle — little luxuries you want but wouldn’t justify buying yourself.”

— Emma, Arabella and Primrose wear pyjamas from Myer