Katie Ngahooro takes a snooze with her newborn son Temiti while stuck in isolation at Starship Hospital. With no family nearby, the family turned to the Internet for support.
Parenting a newborn with medical complications can be isolating enough without being stuck at the other end of the country and catching Covid-19.
The scenario became a reality for the Ngahooro family (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) from Invercargill who found themselves isolated in a room at Starship Hospital in Auckland when mum Katie and her husband tested positive for the virus.
“As if we weren’t isolated enough already,” she said.
With no family nearby and no deliveries allowed inside the hospital, Ngahooro turned to social media for help accessing comforts to relieve some of their symptoms.
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The Internet delivered with “complete strangers” delivering care packages and messages of support.
Ngahooro’s 14-week-old son Temiti has been in hospital since birth because he needs breathing support.
He doesn’t have a confirmed diagnosis yet and Ngahooro said taking care of him was a complex job requiring one of his parents to be with him almost all the time.
Temiti was transferred from Southland Hospital to Starship Hospital in June.
Since only one parent is allowed to spend the night, Ngahooro and her husband have been taking turns sleeping at the nearby Ronald McDonald House.
The charity usually offered off-site apartments for families who tested positive for Covid-19 to isolate in, Ngahooro said, but these were already full when the couple became unwell.
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Katie Ngahooro and her husband were confined to their son’s room at Starship Hospital when they contracted Covid-19.
The solution: moving into Temiti’s room.
But they were very much confined to the small space. “We can’t go wondering the ward, there’s sick children there.”
Although Starship doesn’t typically offer parent meals, staff provided these during the family’s stay, and they were able to call for water or tea – but Ngahooro said she felt bad doing so when staff were already very busy.
They couldn’t cook for themselves inside the hospital room and Covid-19 restrictions meant couriers weren’t allowed into the hospital to deliver any grocery orders.
“It was pretty isolating,” Ngahooro said.
The couple whiled away the time by gaming and watching television and had to come up with some novel ideas to keep Temiti entertained when they needed rest.
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Katie Ngahooro had to employ some Kiwi ingenuity to keep her son Temiti entertained with baby sensory videos, so she could get some rest while fighting Covid-19.
“We were really tired.”
Temiti didn’t test positive, but was symptomatic, Ngahooro said.
She was feeling really stuck and worried when she asked for help on Reddit, but wasn’t actually expecting a positive response.
“Sometimes, on the Internet, especially when you’re hidden behind a username, it brings out the worst in people.”
Aucklanders offered to drop off all sorts of home comforts, from blankets to biscuits.
“I was amazed at the response.”
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Katie Ngahooro’s son Temiti has been in hospital since he was born 14 weeks ago, because of breathing complication.
The family’s Covid-19 journey took one more interesting turn when Temiti was admitted to ICU, leaving Ngahooro and her husband alone in the hospital room “taking up space.”
They found a hotel near the hospital that were willing to take them for the rest of their isolation period – but they had to get there without putting anyone else at risk.
“We waited until late at night and walked down in full PPE,” Ngahooro said.
Temiti is now out of ICU and the family are out of isolation, but Ngahooro expects they will be at Starship for the foreseeable future.
With case numbers rising, she felt it was inevitable that her family would contract Covid-19, but she urged Kiwis to take the virus seriously and follow health guidelines.
“It’s for people like Temiti that people need to step up,” the new mum said.
The Ministry of Health reported 935 new community cases of Covid-19 in Southland and Otago on Wednesday, with 46 people with the virus in Southern hospitals.
Three more people from the district have died with Covid-19, bringing the Southern death toll to 145.
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