00:00At first glance, baby River seems like any other newborn at Canberra's Centenary Hospital.
00:09But a closer look suggests a very rough start to life.
00:15I reflect back and it feels like a bit of a blur because I've just been coping, surviving I guess.
00:22River arrived at 23 weeks, weighing roughly the same as a loaf of bread.
00:28Mum Sarah Batchelor had suffered a placental abruption where the placenta detaches from the wall of the uterus before childbirth.
00:36It happens in less than 1% of pregnancies and often requires an emergency caesarean.
00:42I knew that I was hemorrhaging. They were just taking loads and loads of blood and weighing it.
00:49Ms Batchelor estimates she lost close to 4 litres of blood over 10 days and a further litre during the C-section.
00:57Blood transfusions of O negative during and after the birth saved her life and the life of her daughter.
01:05I don't think I would be here without it and she definitely wouldn't be.
01:10Just 6.5% of Australians are O negative but that blood type makes up nearly 20% of hospital orders.
01:184% of Lifeblood's weekly donations go to mums and bubs.
01:23We use O negative in emergencies when you don't have time to test to find out a patient's blood group.
01:29Understandably, any supply issue is a problem.
01:33Right now Lifeblood require all O type blood donations and particularly O negative at the moment.
01:41Don't realise how important it is for the babies in NICU and even their mums if they've had complications like me.
01:47Giving new meaning to a bundle of joy.
01:51Give him a little bit of joy.
02:07Give him a little bit of joy.
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