Premature baby who caught Covid made ‘miraculous recovery’ at Glasgow hospital

Mum-of-four Chloe Connolly, 25, gave birth to twins Esmaè and Averly McGuinness on September 7. The twins were born nine weeks early at their parents’ home in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.

Chloe delivered the girls herself with partner Darren McGuinness before the babies were rushed to the University Hospital Wishaw, North Lanarkshire.

She felt sudden pains and phoned an ambulance with paramedics arriving 28 minutes later to find the babies already born.

While in hospital, Averly caught covid - which she was particularly vulnerable to due to suffering chronic lung disease.

Doctors transferred herto the Royal Children’s Hospital in Glasgow were she was put into a coma and hooked up to a ventilator.

Devastated Chloe feared she would not survive and began planning funeral arrangements - but after two weeks being treated by specialists, Averly was reunited with her twin in the Wishaw neonatal unit.

The twins are now seven months old and both suffer from chronic lung disease, but it is hoped they may outgrow it.

Chloe said: “I was feeling rubbish and overnight I started to get really bad pains, it all happened so fast.

“We were on the phone to paramedics for 28 minutes and by the time they arrived the twins were born.

“I had them in the bedroom because I couldn’t even make it to the toilet, I just bent down and grabbed them myself. Averly was born first and six minutes later so was Esmaè. I never even had a paracetamol.

“The month later Averly got Covid and we had to deal with all that. It has been a complete rollercoaster for us, we didn’t think she would survive to start with.

“The doctors had told us we were looking at hour by hour, they couldn’t even say she had days left.

“They transferred her to the Royal Children’s Hospital and had a neonatal surgeon in the ambulance in case anything went really wrong.

“We drove behind them and I couldn’t help but think how I was about to have to plan a funeral for her soon.

“I started to think about flowers and arrangements in my head, it was horrible. Thankfully I didn’t have to do that because after being put in a coma and on a ventilator she started to get better. We couldn’t believe it.

“Averly had so many drips but slowly doctors started taking them off her and we realised she was getting much stronger. After two weeks she was even able to leave the Royal.

“When she came back to the Wishaw neonatal unit the staff were all shocked to see her. I don’t know how she did it, she was so tiny and just had the strength to pull through.”

On October 4 the worried parents were told it was unlikely Averly would survive. But after spending 14 days at Royal Children’s Hospital, and then returning to the Wishaw neonatal unit, the twins were both discharged on November 12.

Chloe added: “None of it really hit me till recently. I feel like a different person now compared to then. It has been a lot but the NHS have been so great.

“The doctors and nurses have all been so brilliant, everyone we came across has been so supportive and really helpful.”