Covid: 'Miracle' twins born prematurely to mum in coma

Video report by ITV News Correspondent Stacey Foster


A hospital consultant who woke up from a coma to discover she'd given birth to twins says it's a "miracle" they're both safe and well.

Perpetual Uke was six months pregnant when she fell seriously ill with Covid.

She says she thought Palmer and Pascal, both born after just 26 weeks, wouldn't make it. Now, back home, all three are recovering well.

"Waking up, I was first of all terrified I couldn't see my bump," she told ITV News.

"They were telling me that you've had your babies and they were showing me pictures, these pictures didn't even look real to me. They looked so tiny, they didn't look like human beings."

Like their mother, both babies - who weighed less than a bag of sugar - were looked after in intensive care.

Father Matthew Uke described the anxious wait to see if his wife would ever wake up to meet their new family.

"Seeing them there, it was mixed feelings because by then my wife was still in a coma and I wasn't sure she was going to come back, so it was a mixture of feelings," he said.

But after 116 days in hospital, the twins were released from hospital.

"Palmer is so quiet, she is there and she knows when you are busy," Perpetual said. "(With) Pascal it has to happen now."

Perpetual now has time recover and spend time with her family, away from work as an NHS doctor.