Australian entertainment’s first family tells Jackie Brygel of the harrowing health scare that threatened newborn baby Eva’s little life.
Pretty as a picture with her rosebud mouth and pink cheeks, the tiniest member of Australia’s royal family of show business is perfectly at ease, safely nestled in the arms of her “Poppy”, Bert Newton.
Producing a contented gurgle for her smitten parents Lauren Newton and Matt Welsh, and maternal grandparents Patti and Bert, Eva Eunice Newton Welsh is blissfully unaware that her young life was in grave danger just a few weeks ago.
Rushed to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital at less than two weeks of age with severe breathing difficulties, little Eva spent the next six days in the hospital’s renowned neo-natal intensive care unit.
“Eva was born three weeks early via caesarean, but was a good size, so we only ended up staying in hospital for the usual six days after the birth,” Lauren reveals. “Our son Sam was coming in to visit and everything was wonderful.
“Then, as soon as we came home, Sam started to get sick with a chest infection. He wouldn’t sleep during the night, so we’d bring him in to us to have a cuddle, and Eva was also in our room, in the bassinet. Sam (17 months) was so excited about Eva that he kept kissing her on the head and touching her, but then she started to get a rattly chest…”
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