‘I thought I’d never see my baby alive’ – mum on 'traumatic' Covid coma birth

A mum from South Lanarkshire says she “never thought she would see her baby alive” after giving birth while in an induced coma due to Covid.

Stephanie Curran, 32, delivered baby Millie 14 weeks prematurely at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in October 2021.

When she was born on October 15, Millie weighed just 1lb 15 oz and could fit into the palm of a hand – and it would be four days before she would meet her for the first time.

Stephanie told STV News: “I cried every day – I was so petrified. It was the most traumatising experience of my life.

“I didn’t know if my baby would survive, if I’d get to take her home, if my family would ever meet her alive.

“I have spent years scared something else would happen to us. It completely changed me.”

Millie weighed just 1lb 15oz when she was born. Stephanie Gibson

Millie has come on leaps and bounds in her three years. Stephanie Curran

Stephanie’s road to motherhood during the pandemic had already begun with heartbreak the previous year – she suffered a miscarriage with her first baby in August 2020.

She and her partner Mark were excited to learn she had fallen pregnant, but an 11-week scan at University Hospital Wishaw revealed there was no heartbeat.

“I was absolutely heartbroken – I just felt numb. We were devastated,” she said. I went into complete shutdown mode after that. I didn’t want to see or talk to anybody.

“It took me a good few weeks – people were sending flowers – but they couldn’t come and visit. It feels like another lifetime.”

Stephanie discovered she was pregnant again in April 2021, but fear overshadowed her joy.

She admits she spent the first months of her pregnancy “petrified” and “worried about every little thing”.

Stephanie was signed off sick due to dizzy spells and low iron levels in September. Then, PCR tests confirmed she and Mark had Covid.

“My whole world totally crumbled – I couldn’t stop thinking about the baby,” she said.

Stephanie holds baby Millie in hospital. Stephanie Curran

Stephanie’s condition rapidly deteriorated over the course of three days as she struggled with “horrendous” chest and back pain and could “barely keep water down”.

Mark took Stephanie to University Hospital Hairmyres in East Kilbride on the final day of her isolation.

In intensive care, doctors warned the couple that she may have to deliver her baby early.

“I had rapidly gone downhill by that point,” said Stephanie. “I was only producing enough oxygen to keep Millie alive, not myself. They had me on the highest amount of oxygen they could.

“My whole body was weak. The headache, the migraine, it never left me for the full ten days. I literally couldn’t even string a sentence together.

“But I was quite naive – I didn’t think she would actually have to be delivered.”

That night, Stephanie was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where a growth scan confirmed that Millie could be delivered.

On the day, doctors told Stephanie she was not strong enough to deliver the baby herself and would need to be put in a medically induced coma.

Mark was unable to visit Stephanie due to Covid restrictions, so she told him of the decision on one last tearful phone call.

“They said if Mark came to see me because I was still positive, he wouldn’t be allowed to meet the baby when she was delivered. I was terrified.

“I had to choose – either say goodbye to him, let him be there when the baby was born, or she would have to go without seeing us if I wasn’t here.

“We were a mess. I didn’t know if the baby would survive.”

Millie was given oxygen treatment during her first months. Stephanie Curran

Stephanie was taken to theatre and put into a coma that evening. Millie was delivered at 1.44pm while her mother remained unconscious.

Three days later, Stephanie woke up in pain in a hospital bed.

“When I woke up, it was horrible,” she said. “I didn’t know how long I’d been out for. I remembered the baby but didn’t know if she was alive.

“They tried to tell me what happened, but I don’t really remember it.

“I asked when I could see Millie, but the goalposts kept changing. I thought I’d never get to see my baby alive.

“I couldn’t get my head around it. I thought she was going to die.”

Due to isolation rules, Stephanie was forced to wait four days before meeting her baby. Mark was also not permitted to visit her until the day she was to meet Millie.

Stephanie said: “I remember being wheeled in, and we all had on masks, gloves and bodysuits.

“Millie was in an incubator to mimic being in the womb – it was filled with condensation.

“I was so happy to finally meet her – but I was looking at her thinking ‘I’m never going to take you home.'”

Millie, who has chronic lung disease, initially faced medical challenges while regaining the strength to leave the hospital.

She was undergoing treatment for a heart defect and suffered an infection following her birth.

'Wild' Millie loves nursery, dinosaurs and princesses. — ‘Wild’ Millie loves nursery, dinosaurs and princesses. Stephanie Curran

But the family was finally able to bring her home on December 28, the day before Stephanie’s birthday.

“I burst out crying when they told us. It had been put off and off. I wanted to be able to take her out in the pram.

“One of the first things I did was take her to meet my gran, who was 92 at the time. She was just praying every day to get to meet her. We had visitors, but we kept it to a minimum.

“I spent a long time not wanting to go out of the house because I was petrified something would happen to Millie.”

Now three-years-old and at nursery, little Millie is a “wild child” who has come on leaps and bounds – quite literally.

“I genuinely look at Millie and can’t believe how far she has come from the baby I first met.

“Her wee personality is just the best – she’s just constantly laughing and playing away. She never stops running.

“She absolutely loves dinosaurs. She also loves a wee handbag and a crown, dressing up and princess things.

“She loves seeing her friends at nursery – she doesn’t even look back when I take her there in the mornings anymore!”

Stephanie added: “I had always been so protective of her – I let people see her, have a wee cuddle, but then I just wanted her back.

“I suppose I waited so long for her, and I just wanted to soak up every bit of her.”

Though life has moved on, Stephanie admits that her “nightmare” ordeal has taken a lasting physical and emotional toll on her.

Millie and her family help raise money for the Children's Hospital charity — Millie and her family help raise money for the Children’s Hospital charity Royal Children’s Hospital Charity

Stephanie said her health is “not back to how it used to be”, and she is undergoing tests for breathing problems.

Therapy has helped her to process the trauma, and she believes she “probably wouldn’t be alive” without help.

Stephanie recalled how a visit to the hospital where Millie was born helped put her on the path to healing.

“The staff were amazing – they were so emotional seeing us,” she said.

“I got to walk around intensive care, over to the bed where I lay. I remembered how I just lived hour by hour in total fear, wondering if I would ever get out.

“Doing all that has massively helped me to realise everything is okay now.

“I just wish someone could have come over at the time and said ‘Everything is going to work out.'”

To give back, Millie’s family host a fundraising day every year for the Royal Hospital for Children, where Millie is still undergoing treatment.

“I don’t know how I will ever repay them – those doctors that saved us, the nurses that wiped away my tears every day. They were the best.

“We feel like the luckiest parents alive to be where we are today – we never in a million years thought we would be here – she’s our Millie the Miracle.”