The lives of a newborn miracle baby and her mum were saved by quick-thinking Ayrshire medics.
Pregnant with her first child, Maxine Phillips fell seriously ill in May 2020 at just 29 weeks into her pregnancy.
With the country in the grip of a national Covid lockdown, the expectant mother, now 30, was diagnosed with mild pre-eclampsia the week before at a routine 28-week appointment.
But the life-threatening condition quickly turned severe and after being admitted to Crosshouse Hospital, where she works as a staff nurse, Maxine woke in the middle of the night uncontrollably shaking.
Left untreated, pre-eclampsia can lead to seizures, strokes and the worst case scenario is the loss of life of both mother and baby.
NHS Ayrshire & Arran medics had to urgently deliver the baby via Caesarean section 11 weeks early.
Maxine, who works in Ayrshire Maternity Unit's gynaecology ward, said: "I got admitted because things were getting progressively worse. I felt I had headaches that wouldn't go away and I was seeing black spots in my vision and I had gained around a stone in weight in a week.
"I had swelling on my face, my hands, my feet and that was the fluid build up. And because it was lockdown at that time I wasn't seeing anyone so no-one really noticed. And what husband in their right mind is going to tell their pregnant wife that they're looking a wee bit chubby?
"I work with a lot of the consultants that were on and they moved me down to the labour ward for one-to-one care, which I just assumed was just a perk of the job. But in reality they were trying their best to keep me calm and not worry me too much.
"I woke up in the middle of the night with uncontrollable shaking and a feeling that something was really wrong. Then the team all came in and had to give me medication to stop the shaking and to help with the baby's brain development."
The previous day neonatal experts had talked about the chances of survival and wanted to get Maxine's condition under control with the aim of trying to keep her baby developing in the womb for another month. But the plan was scrapped as the situation worsened.
Maxine's husband Dave, 34, was called to theatre and baby Belle Phillips was born via C-section on May 2, weighing just 2lbs 11.5oz.
Maxine added: "I felt so unwell, I wanted them to do anything to stop me feeling that way although it wasn't a nice situation it never felt it was a massive emergency; the theatre staff took photos of Belle being born and let us see her before she went to NICU and still made us feel like we'd just become parents for the first time."
The arrival of Belle was all the more precious for the couple after undergoing three years of ICSI — a form of IVF.
And while the miracle newborn negotiated all obstacles in her path; the road to recovery was very isolating in the midst of the pandemic.
"Belle exceeded all expectations after she was born," Maxine said.
"She was in for six weeks and she went from strength-to-strength and we did have hiccups along the way but she recovered from that. We were really proud of her.
"My pre-eclampsia got worse after the birth and had to be kept in hospital for nine days. I felt awful after the birth compared to before the birth but the hardest part was not having anyone else in with me when I felt so unwell and you have the new mum fatigue anyway and recovering from a C-section but not having anyone there I found that difficult emotionally rather than the physical recovery."
Eventually, Belle was allowed to go home on June 18 — weeks before her term date.
Inspired by the heroic work undertaken by colleagues during her family's hour of need and with Belle now two-years-old, Maxine wanted to give something back to those who had helped and raise some awareness about pre-eclampsia.
Maxine had struck up a close friendship with Kelly Arnott, whose son Max was born 14 weeks prematurely in April 2019.
Together the pair set a target of running the Edinburgh half-marathon together but an injury ahead of the race ruled Kelly out of the event.
Kelly, who was sidelined with a torn hip rotator cuff, previously told the Kilmarnock Standard how she went to 'hell and back' while her son recovered after being born more than three months early.
However, Maxine was still able to complete the task on behalf of the mums and together raised more than £2,200 for the neonatal unit.
Maxine said: "During my time in the neonatal unit I developed a friendship with Kelly whose little boy was born at 26 weeks and she was a really good support to me during my time in the unit and we both wanted to try to give something back to the unit. Kelly's done some fundraising before for them.
"The team within the unit were my support system and Dave's support system because we couldn't be in there together we really relied on the team for emotional support. We can't thank them enough for all they did."
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