A young mother who gave birth while in a coma and did not meet or hold her baby for the first time until eight days later has spoken openly about her ordeal.
Kiri Sheehan, 28, from Perth, was 30 weeks pregnant with Luna when she came down with a severe case of flu and was unable to fight the infection with medication because she was in the last trimester of pregnancy.
Mrs. Sheehan was admitted to Perth’s Joondalup Health Campus on August 31 suffering severe chest pain and breathing difficulties before she was diagnosed pneumonia and a collapsed lung.
“After that I kept going in and out (of consciousness), and I pretty much can’t remember anything from that point on,” Sheehan said. 7news.com.au.
That night, she had been placed in a medically induced coma to allow Luna to develop further in the womb.
However, the next day doctors detected bleeding and had to perform an emergency C-section to save her life while Kiri was still in a coma.
‘(My partner) Scott was very worried. The staff was friendly and calm because they were very serious. They didn’t know if I would wake up,” Sheehan said.
Luna was born 10 weeks early, on September 3, and weighed just 1.4kg.
Kiri Sheehan with her daughter Luna, who was born by emergency caesarean section while her mother was in a coma
Luna, who was born 10 weeks premature and weighed just 1.4 kg, remains in neonatal care
Little Luna was rushed to the neonatology department at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth.
Ms Sheehan was gradually awakened from her coma five days later when she was given “little tidbits at a time” but was assured that Luna was safe.
While she was able to see her newborn daughter via video calls, it would be another three days before Sheehan would be well enough to meet and hug Luna for the first time.
‘It was an instant connection. There was love, relief and it gave me more motivation to leave the hospital,” Mrs Sheehan recalled.
“It was so beautiful, but also really scary. It had so many wires and tubes it was overwhelming, but it was all I could have asked for.’
Mrs Sheehan was discharged from hospital a few days later on September 12.
Luna (pictured with her dad Scott) didn’t meet her mom until she was eight days old.
The Perth mum (left) was 30 weeks pregnant with Luna when she came down with a bad case of the flu.
Almost a month later, Mrs Sheehan is still experiencing chest pain and difficulty breathing.
Doctors told him that if he hadn’t gone to the hospital when he did, it could cause him to bleed to death and Luna “not survive.”
Luna, now one month old, is no longer in intensive care but will remain in hospital for the foreseeable future.
Mrs Sheehan and her partner Scott Haliday have three children, but have also experienced the tragedy of the stillbirth of a 22-week-old baby.
TO GoFundme Page has been created by his brother to help ease the family’s financial burden as medical and living expenses increase.
Haliday has had to stop working as a contract plasterer to care for the couple’s three children, aged nine, six and four, while his wife and daughter continue to recover.
“Without their income, the family struggles to cover basic expenses, including rent, bills, and Kiri and Luna’s mounting medical costs,” the page states.
Baby Luna, now one month old (pictured with her mother Kiri), remains in hospital
Kiri’s husband Scott has been forced to stop working as a contract plasterer to care for his family (pictured)
He also revealed that Luna has been fed through a stomach tube receiving 1ml of food every hour.
“Once Kiri was awake and okay, she began pumping breast milk for the nurses to send to King Edward Memorial Hospital for baby Luna,” the page said.
The initial goal of $10,000 has already been surpassed and almost $13,000 has been pledged.
“It’s still a big journey for Kiri and Luna to get back to full health,” the page added.
“This GoFundMe has been an absolute blessing for the family as Scott doesn’t need to worry about finances and going back to work and can instead focus on helping Kiri and Baby Luna get all the support and care they need” .