Not only did she survive, Nikita was taken off a ventilator after only three days and has faced no major complications.
About 23 weeks is the internationally accepted gestation for a baby to survive, though there have been a handful born earlier who had lived.
"I was really, really lucky that I had an awesome midwife," Mrs McNamara-Singh said.
A scan at 20 weeks indicated the baby could be coming early, but she was given medication to stop it, though she was eventually rushed to Auckland for the delivery.
"Before she came there was about five or six doctors explaining everything," she said.
"What they do is just absolutely awesome."
While Nikita's small size was initially quite "scary" the family were told she was quite big considering how premature she was.
"She was actually pretty lucky," Mrs McNamara-Singh said.
"That was a pretty good size."
Mrs McNamara-Singh and 8-year-old daughter Misha stayed at Ronald McDonald House just down from the hospital.
Mr Singh worked four days in Whangarei and rushed back to be with his family whenever he could.
Northland District Health Board paediatrician Catherine Bremner said about 7 to 8 per cent of babies born in Northland were premature, though usually around 34-37 weeks. However, it was not common for babies to be born at 24 weeks.
"There are the difficulties around how fragile these infants are and how much care, touch and involvement the parents can have, dependent on the infant's medical status," Dr Bremner said.
