MY COVID MIRACLES
NHS consultant has premature twins while in a coma
A DOCTOR who came round from a coronavirus coma to discover she had given birth to twins prematurely says it is a ‘miracle’ they are both safe and well.
Perpetual Uke had feared the worst when she awoke. ‘I couldn’t see my bump and I thought my babies were gone,’ she said.
The rheumatology consultant was taken to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital when she contracted Covid-19.
As her condition deteriorated, Dr Uke was placed on a ventilator in a medically induced coma.
Doctors then took the agonising decision to perform an emergency Caesarean section to save her baby boy and girl. The pair’s due date had been mid-July. Instead, they were welcomed into the world in April at just 26 weeks.
At birth, daughter Sochika Palmer weighed 27oz while brother Osinachi Pascal was only 30oz.
The Birmingham City Hospital doctor’s worried husband Matthew and her two other children – Nnamdi Ronald, 12, and Chisimdi Claire, 11 – had their prayers answered 16 days later when she came out of her coma and began her road to recovery. She told Metro
‘It’s just a miracle what happened, to come out of this.
‘We are all doing very well. I remember getting ill and the ambulance coming to take me away, and then I was put in a coma.
‘Coming out of the coma was the worst aspect. I had nightmares.
‘I was delusional, I couldn’t see my bump and I thought my babies were gone and all my family had died.
‘It was a very, very worrying time for my husband and kids and, even after I woke up, I couldn’t see my babies for more than two weeks.’
Her babies were taken to a specialist neonatal intensive care unit at Birmingham Women’s Hospital while she recovered.
Dr Uke was later transferred to the same hospital before she was discharged, followed by her twins 116 days after their birth. The family were reunited once more in August.
‘Coming home was the real healing point for me,’ she said.
‘The family are now all together and we’re all very, very happy.’
The consultant added she would be forever grateful for the NHS staff who saved their lives, and that she now planned to enjoy her well-earned maternity leave.
Yvonne Heward, head of neonatal nursing at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust, said: ‘It was a very emotional time when Perpetual was treated in intensive care.
‘Their journey has been miraculous and the day of their discharge home was very emotional indeed.
‘It was such a pleasure for us to care for this wonderful family and we have the upmost admiration for them.’