A Cork mother has spoken of her joy at giving birth to a “miracle” baby girl after enduring twenty three miscarriages over ten years.
Georgina O’Shea had her first child, Leon, when she was a teenager. She had resigned herself to the possibility of never having a second child as all of her subsequent pregnancies resulted in miscarriages.
Ms O’Shea, who is in her thirties, went to a specialist in the US after her seventh miscarriage and was placed on trial drugs in a bid to help her bring a baby to full term.
READ MORE: Irish people's surprising favourite word to refer to their mothers - it's not mam or ma
Georgina told the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM four years ago that every time she fell pregnant instead of feeling happy she experienced “fear and anxiety.”
“No matter how much you try to think it (miscarriage) is not going to happen it does. I don’t envy anybody that falls pregnant or had a child. I would never begrudge anybody having a child. I am still standing. I can still get on with life.
"Comments can hurt more than going through the physical miscarriage. But I just think what is meant for you won’t pass you by.”
After resigning herself to the fact that she may never have a second child, Georgina found herself pregnant last September. She and her husband Ken welcomed a daughter, Reilly, six days ago at CUMH.
Georgina contacted the radio show with her good news. She told Neil Prendeville that Reilly was her “little miracle.”
“She was given to us unexpectedly. We weren’t planning or we weren’t even hopeful I suppose. We randomly did a test and it was positive and it took off from there.
"We had an ectopic pregnancy since the last time I spoke to the show so they have removed one of my tubes and they told me that the other tube was so badly scarred that the chances of me even carrying a pregnancy again were very slim.
"We gave up hope. We started moving on with life. And then we found out we were pregnant and there was a whirlwind of emotions not knowing what to expect. We found out with the doctor (Professor Keelin O’Donoghue) who has been with us for our whole journey.
"She then booked us in for every second week to keep a very close eye on it. In one sense (miscarriages) became normal. It was always expected. So you build up a barrier against yourself to protect your own mental health.
"So every time I fell pregnant I felt sorrow and not joy. Kind of a ‘I know where this is going.’ The last pregnancy before baby Reilly that ended in an ectopic was the only pregnancy we had hope for because everything was going as it should have went but it ended in disaster.
"When things were going right with this pregnancy I just thought ‘it is meant to be.’ There was a little glimmer of hope with this pregnancy.”
Georgina said every scan she went to found her pregnancy progressing to a place she hadn’t been since she gave birth to her son Leon who is now 19.
“Even though we were seeing progression I always had the barrier in the back of my head that it was going to be taken away from me. I had a sense of detachment until 23 weeks when I knew it was a viable pregnancy. From 23 weeks I started to accept I was pregnant.
"Ken had as many nerves as I had. Leon my son was just as positive. Fear hit me at thirty weeks because we were so close but so far. It was mentally tough. The weeks flew in and flew by.
"The birth was extremely emotional. I remember looking at Ken when she was born and his face was soaked with tears. He was crying before she was even out. The birth was 45 minutes long. Leon my son always wanted another sibling but to wait nineteen years for one !
"The staff brought Leon in to the labour room after she was born to allow him to meet her. It was a special time to have all four of us there. Leon is floating on cloud nine. Miracles do happen.”
READ NEXT:
