A baby who was born two months early has defied the odds – after being so small she had to wear doll’s clothing.<br /><br />Sienna Townsend, now four, arrived weighing 3lbs 3oz and mum Gemma, 33, had to dress her in clothes for a baby Annabell doll when she came home after six weeks in hospital.<br /><br />Gemma gave birth to her second premature baby, Amelia, now 15 months, in June 2022, eight weeks early, weighing the exact same as her sister.<br /><br />She was even told to “say goodbye” after Amelia struggled to recover from a collapsed lung.<br /><br />Miraculously the tot pulled through after being put in a coma for seven days and spending two months in hospital.<br /><br />She was able to come home in August 2022 to join her sister, Sienna – and the pair are now both thriving.<br /><br />Gemma, a support worker, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, said: “Both were born early at exactly 31 weeks and three days and 3lbs 1oz each – which is really weird.<br /><br />"Sienna was so small she has to wear baby Annabell clothes as there was nothing else out there for her.<br /><br />"They said 'you need to come in a say goodbye' [to Amelia].<br /><br />“We were told she was dying.<br /><br />"I couldn't believe she made it.<br /><br />"Sienna is besotted with her."<br /><br />Gemma found out she had protein in her urine and was diagnosed with preeclampsia at 28 weeks with Sienna – and was hospitalised up to her birth.<br /><br />Sienna was born via c-section at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester, on October 31, 2018, at 5.15pm when Gemma’s blood pressure shot up and she was at risk of a seizure.<br /><br />Gemma and her husband, Jamie Townsend, 36, who works in IT, were scared to hold their daughter as she was so frail.<br /><br />She said: “It was horrible.<br /><br />“She was so frail and small.”<br /><br />The day after giving birth Gemma was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome – a rare liver and blood clotting disorder – and she was kept in hospital for three weeks while she recovered.<br /><br />Gemma was hardly able to see little Sienna, but after they both recovered, she was able to bring her tiny daughter home - then weighing 4lbs 3oz in December 2018.<br /><br />Sienna is now a thriving four-year-old who is "nervous and anxious".<br /><br />When Gemma fell pregnant again with Amelia, she was told to take aspirin to help stop her from developing pre-eclampsia, but she was diagnosed again at 28 weeks.<br /><br />She said: “It was the exact same, it followed the same pattern.”<br /><br />Gemma was admitted to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, in April 2022 and was taken for a c-section in June when her blood pressure got too high.<br /><br />Little Amelia was born on June 17, 2022, weighing 3lbs 1oz, at 2.20pm, but at three days old doctors noticed her lungs were undeveloped and like that of a 28-week baby.<br /><br />When Amelia was seven days old, Gemma and Jamie were given a call to say she had taken a turn and told to “say goodbye”.<br /><br />She said: “The ventilator wasn’t working for her.<br /><br />“It was so traumatic."<br /><br />Gemma was told she had a collapsed right lung caused by an over inflated left lung - a pneumothorax - that wasn't healing, and specialist doctors had been called to see if they could save her.<br /><br />The team managed to arrive in an hour and operated on her in her incubator in the NICU – attempting to stabilise her.<br /><br />They managed to stabilise her after seven hours, and she was taken in an ambulance to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.<br /><br />Her lung was causing a pressure on Amelia’s heart – which was “really serious” – and doctors battled to save her for two weeks, but nothing was working.<br /><br />They decided to put her in a coma on her left side to get her lung working.<br /><br />Gemma said: “She became really distorted. Her head was massive.<br /><br />“She was really uncomfortable looking.<br /><br />“We were told to prepare for the worst.”<br /><br />On day seven, her heart started inflating and decreased the pressure on it and doctors were able to wake Amelia up.<br /><br />Within five days she started getting better and was then moved back to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.<br /><br />Gemma said: “We couldn’t believe it.”<br /><br />Amelia came home without oxygen in August 2022, and is going from strength to strength but is very behind on her milestones – and has only just started crawling.<br /><br />Her parents don’t yet know what the impact of her NICU stay will have on her but hope she can walk.<br /><br />Gemma said: “She’s so fierce.<br /><br />“She has incredible strength.<br /><br />“She’s determined – that’s what got her through.”<br /><br />For both her daughters, Gemma used donor milk, which she is very thankful for her - and they are both thriving.
