Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘TINY MAEVA IS MY XMAS MIRACLE’
Baby weighed just 3lbs at birth
A TEENAGE mum said she and her tiny newborn daughter are both lucky to be alive after her pregnancy took a sinister turn at just 29 weeks.
Shelby O’Shea, 18, believes that she and Maeva Aaliyah are incredibly blessed to have survived after she developed severe pre-eclampsia.
“Maeva is my little Christmas miracle, there is no doubt about it,” she said.
Maeva was eventually born on Friday December 13 at 33 weeks gestation weighing only 3lbs 1oz following an emergency caesarean section.
Shelby took herself to hospital after feeling that something “wasn’t right”.
Within an hour of being in the hospital she was rushed into theatre and Maeva was delivered.
The teeny tot initially needed support with her breathing but very soon was holding her own.
She is now progressing well, although she will remain in hospital until sometime in January.
Shelby is now urging other expectant mums to believe their own “gut instinct” because she is convinced that is what saved both her and Maeva’s lives.
She said: “If I hadn’t trusted my gut instinct that night and gone into the hospital when I did, the surgeon, the nurses, midwives and doctors all said that we would not have woken up that morning.
“My two-year-old son Mylo would have been without a mummy and a little sister.”
Shelby said that she developed problems in her pregnancy at 29 weeks when she was admitted to hospital with suspected leaking waters.
She was initially sent home but was subsequently re-admittted for an overnight stay with severe dehydration and because her baby’s heart rate was up and down.
Shelby was booked in for an emergency growth scan on December 13, however, things took a turn for the worse on the night of December 12.
She said: “I went to bed as normal but hadn’t really felt the baby move much.
“I went to sleep but I woke up at 2.30am with a strange feeling that something wasn’t right.
“I drifted off back to sleep, but woke again at around 4.30am and I still hadn’t felt baby move much.
“Knowing I had a scan in a few hours I was very, very close to just holding off as I didn’t want to waste time. I’m so glad I chose to ‘waste’ that time because I saved our lives.
“I made my way to the hospital and within an hour of being there my daughter and I were rushed to theatre and underwent surgery that saved both our lives.”
She added: “When I got to the hospital my blood pressure spiked to 175/110 which could lead to seizures and stroke.
“My baby’s heart rate was slowing down as she was dying inside me.
“They had no choice but to wait as they couldn’t operate on me with my blood pressure being so high, it was too dangerous.
“It turns out I had severe pre-eclampsia.
“Once they managed to get it under control they delivered my beautiful little girl and thankfully we both made it.
“I want to appeal to other pregnant women, or those who are planning to get pregnant, or even if someone just has an underlying medical issue that you know deep in your gut is or could be something, please get it seen to – don’t put it off.
“This could save their lives and in my circumstances literally did save me and my baby girls’ lives.”