Our latest RFC member. Keep fighting on little fella 
Our littlest Tiger gets ready to roar Marianne Betts
Herald Sun
April 14, 2010TAMARA Richardson believes her tiny son popped out four months early so he could catch the start of the footy season.
Born at 23 weeks in a toilet at Monash Children's hospital, weighing a mere 695g, three-week-old Kian Richardson may be the Tigers youngest - and tiniest fan.
His parents, both diehard Richmond supporters who met at an AFL game, signed him up when he was just a week old.
His membership card is attached to the front of his humidicrib.
But he won't be going to a game any time soon - the little battler is not expected to leave hospital for another three or four months.
"If this doesn't inspire them to play well or behave themselves (I don't know what will)," Ms Richardson, 29, said.
Two weeks before Kian's birth, Ms Richardson's waters broke.
She was admitted to Ferntree Gully Hospital where doctors hoped she'd hang on for another two weeks.
Born before 23 weeks, a baby's chance of survival is very slim.
She was then transferred to the Royal Women's Hospital, before being moved to Monash, where hours later she went to the toilet, and out came Kian.
"I looked down ... and he was in his little membrane sac just hanging there," she said. "There's an emergency button next to the toilet that nearly got pounded through the wall. It was all very scary."
Nurses scooped mother and baby off the toilet and cut the cord on the floor.
"He wasn't breathing when he was born, so he was given adrenaline to start his heart, and given CPR to get him breathing," Ms Richardson said. "Everything's gone his way, he's been really lucky."
Monash Hospital newborn director Andrew Ramsden said just 40 per cent of babies born and treated in a hospital intensive care unit survived at 23 weeks.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/our-littlest-tiger-gets-ready-to-roar/story-e6frf7kx-1225853382354
