Maree Wilkinson
After having weight-loss surgery in India, Faren Ormond returned home to New Zealand to begin her new life – only to start feeling unwell.
“I was nauseated constantly,” says Faren, who’s of Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine and Ngāti Tutemohuta descent.
“I couldn’t keep anything down, not even water.”
Worried she was suffering complications from her November 2023 surgery, the 34-year-old former primary school teacher went to Gisborne Hospital’s emergency department that Christmas Day. After a series of tests, she discovered a massive surprise – she was six weeks pregnant!
Shock and surprise
“My emotions were all over the place,” she recalls.
Bursting into tears, Faren admitted to the doctor she was worried about giving her older children – Kahukairangi, 11, Taiwhakaaio, nine, and Te Rangikaipo, three – a sibling.
“I don’t know what I was thinking or was I even thinking?” she laughs.
“A big fear was that it would jeopardise my journey. I just didn’t know what to expect.”
Pregnancy amid transformation
On learning she was pregnant, Faren, who’s gone from 143kg to 74kg since her operation two years ago, says her surgeon was also shocked but supportive. He arranged a video call with a nutritionist, but Faren struggled to eat during pregnancy due to nausea. Instead, she prioritised hydration, drank protein water and supergreens, attributing it to unintentionally speeding up weight loss from the surgery and dropping 50kg – all while pregnant.
“I was at my healthiest weight for this pregnancy,” she says.
“All my other ones, I was classed as high risk, high BMI.”
Born prematurely a year ago at 36 weeks, weighing just 2.5kg, Te Waiōrangi’s now the whānau’s “cherry on top”.
Her arrival was an “all-natural, unplanned home birth”. Following timed contractions, Faren went to the hospital at 3am on 22 July but was discharged at 8.30am after being told she wasn’t dilated.
“I went home, went about my day and even did the school run,” she says.
However, at 3.30pm, the pains returned.
A surprise delivery
“I put it down to Braxton Hicks contractions [irregular contractions that are mistaken for labour] and went to lie down, not aware I was actively giving birth.”
When they intensified, she phoned Hato Hone St John, but the emergency dispatcher felt it was going to be too late and told Faren she’d walk her through a home delivery. When her waters broke, she yelled out for the children’s father to come help guide Te Waiōrangi out.
“I pushed her head, took a couple of deep breaths, pushed her shoulders and she just flew out,” Faren tells.
“It was intense!”
A healthy arrival
Paramedics arrived soon after and she was transported to the hospital to deliver her placenta. Despite being born a month early, there were no complications and Te Waiōrangi is healthy.
“It was beautiful,” she shares.
“Her siblings were all there watching. They described her as a sausage coming out!”
After giving birth and losing 70kg, Faren’s also noticed a difference in how she can mother.
“I’m not as lethargic,” she explains.
“My moods are more stable. I prioritise wholefoods and feeding them to my kids.”
A lifelong struggle with weight
Growing up, Faren was always a bigger child who loved eating and her weight gain persisted into adulthood. In 2018, she inquired about bariatric surgery but was told she was ineligible. With private surgery costing up to $29,000 in Aotearoa, the cost was less than half in India.
Asking her aunt, medical tourism agent Annette Brons, about her options, she heard about a documentary that would allow her to undergo the operation in India. Faren was chosen, along with Rotorua journalist Roihana Nuri, to be part of the Whakaata Ma¯ori series. But she wants people to know that bariatric surgery isn’t the easy way out.
“There are risks of reversing it if you continue to overeat, eat the wrong foods, don’t exercise and risk stretching your pouch,” she tells.
“The mental recovery’s also the hardest.”
Setting a healthy example
Having recently joined the gym, Faren’s driven to be body positive for her kids.
“I’ve found the best way is to let them see the change in me, in the foods I eat and how active I am,” she shares.
“I love I’m a healthier example.”
Faren features in the docuseries Pukunati: Lose Weight or Die, screening at 7:30 pm on Mondays on Whakaata Māori and streaming on Māori+.
