# 604 | Tahlia's Journey: From Heart Surgery to NICU Mum - A Story of Resilience and Hope

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/australian-birth-stories-401092/604-tahlia-s-journey-from-heart-surgery-to-nicu-mum-a-story-of-resilience-and-hope
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/australian-birth-stories-401092/604-tahlia-s-journey-from-heart-surgery-to-nicu-mum-a-story-of-resilience-and-hope.md
Podcast: [Australian Birth Stories](https://stenobird.com/podcast/australian-birth-stories-401092)
Published: 2026-04-15T23:05:39+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/australian-birth-stories/episodes/604-tahlias-journey-from-heart-surgery-to-nicu-mum-a-story-o
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68ba6fc2f8dc6bde38345645/e/69e019c3de282b9272b16c17/media.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/australian-birth-stories-401092/episodes/604-tahlia-s-journey-from-heart-surgery-to-nicu-mum-a-story-of-resilience-and-hope
Duration seconds: 3874

## Resource

Tahlia was born with a complex congenital heart condition requiring three open-heart surgeries and a pacemaker. She was told early on that if she wanted children, sooner would be better than later. After conceiving through IVF, her high-risk pregnancy led to an emergency caesarean at 30 weeks, followed by an intensive 78-day NICU stay with her daughter Sunny. Tahlia's story is one of extraordinary resilience, the power of expressing breast milk as connection, and finding hope in the darkest moments. She shares candidly about the emotional toll of leaving hospital without her baby, the grief of missing ten weeks of pregnancy, and how the NICU community became her lifeline. This episode also highlights the incredible work of the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, whose donated equipment - including hospital-grade breast pumps - made such a difference to Tahlia's journey. Today's episode is brought to you by iL Tutto . For a limited time, you can enjoy 20% off the Trend Collection and the rest of iL Tutto’s range of Nursing Chairs, Cots, Chests and CoZee Co-Sleepers, plus many more Nursery essentials. Simply use the code ABS20 at iL Tutto Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/australian-birth-stories-401092/episodes/604-tahlia-s-journey-from-heart-surgery-to-nicu-mum-a-story-of-resilience-and-hope/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/australian-birth-stories-401092/604-tahlia-s-journey-from-heart-surgery-to-nicu-mum-a-story-of-resilience-and-hope.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.