An Irish mum has given birth after spending almost three weeks in an induced coma with COVID

“I tested positive on a Saturday, by the Wednesday I was in Beaumont Hospital and on the next Saturday, I was rushed to ICU where I spent 17 nights in an induced coma on a ventilator."

In March this year, at 21-weeks pregnant, Laura Curtis tested positive for Covid-19. Within days, she was in the hospital, where, after her condition deteriorated, doctors decided to put her in an induced coma. Speaking on Newstalk's Hard Shoulder last night, Curtis explains she will never forget the moment she found out her baby was still alive. On July 14th, Curtis gave birth to her daughter Demi at the Rotunda Hospital – just months after having spent 17 days in an induced coma. On The Hard Shoulder this evening, she said the last thing she remembers before being put to sleep was a doctor telling her that if it came to it, they would prioritise her life over her baby’s. "Basically, in a nutshell, back in March, I got COVID,” she explained. “I tested positive on a Saturday, by the Wednesday I was in Beaumont Hospital and on the next Saturday, I was rushed to ICU where I spent 17 nights in an induced coma on a ventilator at 21 weeks pregnant.

Laura Curtis was 21 weeks pregnant when she found herself in a coma with Covid and on a ventilator. She is telling @kierancuddihy her incredible story now on @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/ZbdIrthYPo

— The Hard Shoulder (@TheHardShoulder) August 11, 2021

Curtis explained on the radio said the baby was all she was thinking about when she was first admitted to hospital. “They were doing blood tests and I was just saying to them, is my baby OK, is my baby OK,” she said. “They had one of those small monitors that they can check the belly to make sure the heartbeat is still there, so the nurse did that for me and she said yeah everything’s OK. “But then they told me I had to get an X-Ray and obviously it is not recommended to get an x-ray when you are pregnant so I panicked then. “They basically said to me Laura you don’t really have an option because if you have clots on your lungs from COVID, never mind the baby, you won’t make it. “Then it kind of got a bit real and when I was transferred to the high dependency unit because every oxygen machine they put me on wasn’t satisfying - it wasn’t helping me - so they kept improving my oxygen, kept putting me on bigger machines, higher doses and then I started to panic.” Curtis explained her boyfriend was allowed into the hospital when they were taking her to ICU. “The only thing I remember them saying to me was Laura, you’re 21 weeks pregnant, it is not a viable pregnancy until it is 24 weeks so, if I have to make the decision, I am going to try and save your life. “I was put into an induced coma for 17 nights and that was the last conversation I had.” Laura said that, when she woke up, she thought her baby was gone. But her boyfriend was there, and played her a phone recording of the baby’s heartbeat and told her: “The baby’s doing fine, the baby’s doing great – there’s nothing to worry about.” “It’s something I’ll never forget,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. I still can’t believe she made it through it all. I couldn’t believe it because I thought she was gone; I didn’t think I was still pregnant." Today, Demi is four weeks old today and doing great, and Curtis explained she wanted to tell her story to thank the doctors and nurses at Beaumont Hospital and the Rotunda Hospital. “The people who cared for me were absolutely amazing and without them, myself and Demi my little girl wouldn’t be here,” she said. “So yeah, I’m just very grateful to everyone who looked after me and just a word of warning that you can’t be too safe.”