“Once we got over the excitement that we were having a baby… the things that the doctors were telling us, we were like, okay, this is not as exciting as it should be – this is actually really scary.
“It was actually a really morbid chat every day for about six weeks until I got to 29 weeks and four days and she decided to come.
“The first two years of her life were very, very, very difficult… she almost died three times. RSV, the common cold, pneumonia, rhinovirus, you name it, she would catch it – and we would end up in hospital on the respirator and we’d be back at square one every single time.”
Despite all she had to face so early in her life, K’Lee told Real Life Honour is now a “feisty, healthy, headstrong and independent” 4 year old.
A Christian, K’Lee said she and husband Lama Saga were forced to dig deep into their shared faith to make it through.
“I really just had to really stop and hand it over to God and be like, please, I really need you to really just keep her in. Don’t let her come out. Let these doctors do their magic and stop my labours from happening. And I managed to keep her in until 29 weeks,” she said.
“I went into hospital on December 21 [2020] and I had her on February 7 [2021]. We didn’t leave the hospital until May, and then four months later we were back in hospital, praying for her life again.
“So it was a huge trust in God’s direction. We had loads of our friends and whānau, and prayer communities around Auckland and New Zealand, praying for our little girl and for her to be strong enough to leave hospital at several different times.”
Even amidst fearing for her daughter’s life, K’Lee remembers it as “a beautiful journey that still continues on”.
The experience also meant they were able to cope better when K’Lee, pregnant with her sixth child Micah, went into labour six weeks early last July and doctors had to hastily intervene to deliver him safely.
“My labour started and he was stuck right under my ribs. Because he was so small, I wasn’t able to give birth to him naturally, and they had to get him out as soon as possible,” she told Real Life.
“I get there and all the doctors and nurses are setting up, and I’m thinking, ‘oh my gosh, I’m doing this again’. We go rolling into the theatre, and I see this [doctor] standing there, and this big-ass needle sitting on the table… and I was like, ‘Woah, woah, woah!’
“‘Just hold up for two minutes, you’re Māori, I’m Māori, I just need to ask God to be in this room with us right now… I just want my baby to be healthy, and I need to be able to survive this.’
“I said, ‘Do you mind if maybe we do a karakia?’ And he was like, of course, and he took his little scrub hat off and he was right there. And my husband led us on a karakia and everything, and at the end he goes, ‘Oh, kia ora, ready to go!’”
Thankfully, all went to plan and Micah was born safely.
K’Lee says her faith is now stronger than ever.
“The more that I learn to trust in God and what He’s got planned for me, then the more that I get to see the beauty in what I actually have around me. And I think that’s the essence of it.
“Because then you’re not shrouded by the have and have-nots, looking at other people’s relationships, families, jobs, going, ‘why don’t I have that?’
“You start to look inwards, and you go, ‘where’s my love, where’s my faith, where’s my gratitude, where’s my appreciation? Am I happy? Am I grateful for the things that I have around me?
“And you start to take notice of all the great things that you have around you, and therefore you start going, actually ‘I’m good. I’m happy. God’s got me. Life is good.’”
Elsewhere in the Real Life interview, K’Lee talks about her rise to prominence in New Zealand as a 16 year old, overcoming her abusive relationship with her ex and meeting Saga, and touring with the likes of Pink, Shaggy and Missy Elliott.
Listen to the full interview here.
- Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7.30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.
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