Alexandra Wong King's 2-year-old toddler Amitai first showed symptoms of RSV on July 2, and then three days later, her 4-month-old baby Manaia also fell sick.
RSV is a common virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract, and can cause serious illness including bronchiolitis and pneumonia in some babies and young children.
"Both children deteriorated throughout the week. Amitai had a cough where he struggled to breathe, a fever that kept reoccurring, a runny nose, he was lethargic, he wasn't eating and at times he began shaking," Wong King said.
"We were using his ventolin regularly and especially at night to help him breathe and we were giving him regular pain relief. Manaia too began to cough badly, had a recurring fever and was often choking on all the mucus inside her. We were giving her regular pain relief too."
Her husband Marcus Wong King took leave from work to help care for the children, and Wong King's sister, who lives in Auckland kept in contact several times a day.
Although Amitai's condition improved after seeing the GP, Manaia's breathing deteriorated.
"We were sent to Christchurch Hospital and Manaia was admitted. I thought it would be a relatively quick trip to the hospital, but Manaia continued to struggle with the RSV bronchiolitis," Wong King said.
"She stopped breastfeeding and a nasal tube was put in to provide her with feeds and pain relief. Then during one of the nights we were in hospital she was coughing and couldn't stop."
Wong King said her baby's oxygen levels dropped.
"Manaia was taken away for oxygen and then transferred to another ward for high flow oxygen. From there she was able to progress to low flow oxygen support, to no oxygen help required, and after five days she began breastfeeding again," she said.
"It was a deeply distressing experience seeing both children suffer so badly with RSV and then to see Manaia needing to be on oxygen was one of the worst moments of my life."
Wong King and her husband said they were grateful for the help given by the medical staff at the GP and hospital.
"We can't deny the huge impact the nurses had at every part of the terrible journey. My sister, a nurse, helped us as we managed the children at home, the nurses at our GP practice helped us and then the nurses throughout the wards at Christchurch Hospital cared for Manaia so well," she said.
"While I looked after Manaia I could see they were run off their feet, they were there longer than their shifts required, they were appearing for extra shifts willing to do overtime to plug gaps in staffing numbers and you could tell many of them were tired and under pressure."
Wong King said nurses were there for them, without complaint, when their baby girl needed them.
"Now we really want them to finally be granted the safe working conditions and fair pay that they deserved so long ago," she added.
