{"id":858697,"date":"2026-08-17T17:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/858697\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T17:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:38:19","slug":"logan-couple-welcome-their-baby-daughter-australias-most-premature-newborn-to-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/858697\/","title":{"rendered":"Logan couple welcome their baby daughter, Australia\u2019s most premature newborn to survive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Abbey<\/p>\n

August 17, 2026 \u2014 7:40pm<\/p>\n

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\u201cI took one look at her and I was like, \u2018there\u2019s no way she\u2019s going to make it\u2019,\u201d remembers Annrose Tunavasa of the day she met her baby girl.<\/p>\n

In the living room of their Logan Reserve home, 35 kilometres south of Brisbane, she and her husband Misi cradle their four-month-old daughter in their arms.<\/p>\n

Makerita Miracle Tanuvasa has already broken records, defied modern medical standards, and left doctors in awe. But her proud parents are just grateful she has survived.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just like she was here to fight,\u201d says mum Annrose.<\/p>\n

On March 20, Annrose visited her GP. She had just completed a six-week gym challenge, but dropped little weight, and suspected she may be four or five weeks pregnant.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Animated<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI went to do an ultrasound and the sonographer told us that we were about 22 weeks pregnant,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI said \u2018that\u2019s impossible\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Annrose explained that she had suffered a miscarriage in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018Well, maybe you had a twin, and you miscarried the twin \u2026 you\u2019ve got to go to the hospital and you\u2019ll be staying there until you give birth.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Five days later, Annrose gave birth at the Royal Brisbane and Women\u2019s Hospital at 7:08pm.<\/p>\n

Her middle name says it all. Miracle, as she is now affectionately known, measured 30.5 centimetres upon arrival and weighed just 351 grams, making her the tiniest newborn in Queensland history.<\/p>\n

Her weight was some 23 grams less than Australia\u2019s Coke Can Kid, Jonathon Heeley, who was born in 1992 and famously drew comparisons to the size of the soft drink.<\/p>\n

\"MiracleMiracle made the RBWH\u2019s intensive care unit her home for 14 weeks.<\/p>\n

Father Misi said his daughter was about the size of his palm. \u201cWe weren\u2019t able to hold her, but she was very, very small,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

She was so small, clinicians were left perplexed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA week later the doctor came in to see me, and she said, \u2018She\u2019s just not matching the scans that you came in with, she doesn\u2019t match that baby\u2019,\u201d Annrose explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was measuring at 500 grams, measuring at 22 weeks pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BabyBaby Miracle and family.Nine News<\/p>\n

Annrose was asked to retrieve the scans she had completed prior to her miscarriage in December, which showed her baby was even more premature than first thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, this has got to be the same pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"34<\/a><\/p>\n

Doctors told the couple Miracle was in fact born at 21 weeks and 3 days \u2013 so premature that resuscitation usually is not an option.<\/p>\n

The revelation means she is not only Queensland\u2019s smallest baby, but also believed to be the most premature in Australia to live.<\/p>\n

Previously, that was baby Stevie O\u2019Reilly, born at 22 weeks and two days at Townsville University Hospital in July last year.<\/p>\n

The Guinness World Records recognises Iowa toddler Nash Keen, born at exactly 21 weeks in July 2024, as the most premature baby to survive worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the doctors couldn\u2019t explain how she was able to survive everything she\u2019s gone through,\u201d says Misi.<\/p>\n

Annrose nods. \u201cShe said, we can\u2019t give you any answers. Everything is actually just a miracle. And I just said, \u2018well, let\u2019s keep it like that\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StaffStaff congratulate mum Annrose and baby Miracle as she leaves hospital.Nine News<\/p>\n

Following her frantic delivery, Annrose and Misi spent the next month whispering to their daughter from behind the glass facade of a neonatal intensive care incubator.<\/p>\n

Miracle was covered head to toe in tubes and cables as a mighty, multidisciplinary team of health care workers kept a watchful eye over her.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Four weeks into her life, the then petrified parents were finally able to hold their precious girl.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was magical, but it was also very scary, holding such a tiny baby,\u201d says Annrose.<\/p>\n

Miracle made the RBWH\u2019s intensive care unit her home for 14 weeks.<\/p>\n

After six weeks, Annrose moved into Herston\u2019s Ronald McDonald House and she and Misi juggled parenting their two other children, aged 1 and 4, with monitoring their growing newborn.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery visit, it was like real quiet, like almost like no one wanted to tell us, \u2018we don\u2019t know if she\u2019s going to survive or not\u2019,\u201d Annrose recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think after one month, it just started to get real bright in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BabyBaby Miracle with proud parents Annrose and Misi.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Miracle was transferred to Logan Hospital\u2019s special care nursery.<\/p>\n

She was discharged in early August, more than four months after she was born and at what would have marked 40 weeks gestation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen a 21-plus-three-weeker,\u201d says registered nurse Renee Judd.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had other little babies here, but not that young, and I have been 16 years in the neonatal journey in Logan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nurses and midwives who cared for her formed a guard of honour as Annrose carried her daughter from the facility \u2013 remarkably, without an oxygen tank.<\/p>\n

Annrose and Misi teared up as they thanked the healthcare heroes who kept Miracle alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you guys so much for all the love and care you gave our daughter, the nurses, the doctors, the cleaners \u2026 social workers, Ronald McDonald House in Herston. Thank you guys so much for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"AbbeyAbbey Geran<\/a> is a reporter for 9News Queensland.Connect via X<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 17, 2026 \u2014 7:40pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-858697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}