Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Second wave of bug could hit UK earlier
THE babygro reveals tiny Ostara Bundy was born in lockdown – but that is only part of a scary and miraculous story behind her arrival.
Mum Kate Foxall – an intensive care nurse – was stricken by coronavirus in the final two weeks of her pregnancy.
She fell ill after her husband, a senior NHS matron, was first hit by Covid-19.
Then, just days old, Ostara developed symptoms of the deadly infection herself – leaving the couple petrified.
And the triple trauma came after Kate, 36, had overcome breast cancer following a four-year battle.
She and husband Daniel Bundy, 37, had been overjoyed when they learned they were expecting their second child – then rocked by a rollercoaster of emotions triggered by the coronavirus.
Daniel self-isolated first when he lost his sense of taste and smell.
Then, two weeks before Kate’s due date, she developed a high-temperature, lost her taste and smell and started a persistent cough. A swab confirmed it was Covid-19 and the family went into isolation. Kate said: “It was really scary.
“We had no idea what the virus might do during pregnancy.
“I know my symptoms were relatively mild but to go down with it so close to birth. We had worked so hard to get pregnant and there was this fear that the virus might turn serious and I might end up in hospital.”
It was on May 15, just three days after ending isolation, that Kate gave birth at St Mary’s Maternity Unit in Poole, Dorset.
Ostara weighed a healthy 8lb 9oz. But joy turned to fear when the newborn was rushed back into hospital with a rash and high temperature. Kate added: “I was so scared. Daniel wasn’t allowed in the ward and we didn’t know what was
OUR JOY Thrilled Kate and family. Inset: Battling cancer wrong with Ostara. We thought it may have been a delayed response to Covid or Kawasaki disease.
“Luckily, Ostara recovered and is now a happy and healthy baby. They tested her for Covid-19, but it came back negative.
“They say it was a virus but, luckily, not corona. We were in for 48 hours but they were the scariest of my life. We have our miracle baby, but we were racked with anxiety for two
Sleepy Ostara in rainbow babygro
days.” Kate, of Charminster, Dorset, went on maternity leave just weeks before the pandemic broke, but Daniel worked on wards with seriously ill Covid patients at Poole Hospital.
The couple – who met while doing their nursing degrees – had longed to have a sibling for daughter Athena, six.
They were dealt a cruel blow when Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She needed surgery and extensive chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy, to stay alive.
Kate was due to have hormone therapy for five years but was allowed a break to try for a baby – though it carried a risk of the cancer returning.
She added: “I was told my chances were slim and I could only take a year off. The year was nearly up when I finally fell pregnant.”
Kate will go back on hormone treatment later this year – for two more years – to keep the cancer at bay.
BRITAIN may face a second wave of Covid-19 before France and Germany because it relaxed lockdown when rates were higher, ex-Lib Dem MP Dr Sarah Wollaston said.
And the former GP, who chaired the Health Select Committee from 2014 to 2019, called for an urgent public inquiry so crisis failures were not repeated.
If a second wave hits in winter the NHS would face added pressure from seasonal flu, and drug firms have said they may not meet flu jab demand.
Dr Wollaston said: “A flu and coronavirus resurgence have an impact on staff too.
“You’ve got a workforce where a lot of them have been left traumatised by their experiences, and exhausted.”
We have our miracle baby but we were racked with anxiety for two days
MUM WHO BEAT CANCER AND CORONAVIRUS