Dad warned ‘choose who to save’ as wife in coma with Covid delivers baby prematurely
Watch ITV Cymru Wales' video report by Kate Lewis
A pregnant woman with coronavirus had her baby delivered early by C-section while she was unconscious, with doctors unsure whether the two would survive.
Christina Jones, 39, was diagnosed with Covid-19 on February 18 when she was just 30 weeks pregnant, with the baby not due until May.
A few days after her Covid diagnosis she began struggling to breathe and was taken to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
After being put on oxygen in the coronavirus ward for four days, her condition grew worse and she was ventilated on March 1.
The hospital called her husband Nick the next day to say that doctors wanted to deliver the baby by emergency Caesarean section.
“They said [to Nick]: 'We need to get this baby out and we need you to come and sign the paperwork',” said Christina, from Nelson, Caerphilly.
“They needed to put me on my tummy to inflate my lungs – that’s why they had to get the baby out – and they couldn’t give me the drugs that I needed.”
Following the phone call Nick, 45, was met by a surgeon and grief counsellor at the hospital.
“Clearly it’s not a good thing when you’re met by a grief counsellor and taken to one side. I thought she’d gone at that point,” Nick said.
Nick said the surgeon told him the only option they had to save Christina’s life was to deliver the baby.
“He said: 'Your wife is as ill as you can possibly get',” he continued.
“Before she went into surgery, they said if we can save one I had to choose. I said it would be my wife.”
Under the exceptional circumstances, Nick was told he could go into the room. He had to wear a hazmat suit with an oxygen generator to speak to Christina, who was in a coma.
“At that point, how ill Chris looked, I really thought it was going to take a miracle,” he said.
The couple's daughter was delivered via a C-section on March 2 - exactly two months before her due date - and was born weighing just 3lbs 6oz.
“All she had was a heartbeat. She was lifeless,” said Christina – who is also stepmother to Nicky, 16, and mum to daughter Honey, 10.
Nick said their daughter was not initially breathing when she was born and was then taken away to a separate room as she had been born to a Covid-positive mother.
The baby was then transferred to The Grange Hospital in Cwmbran for five days. Nick was unable to see his newborn daughter as she required two negative Covid tests, but the hospital shared daily pictures of her.
The baby's temporary name, suggested by her sister Honey, ended up sticking.
“My little girl, who's only 10 years old, sent me a text message when I was sleeping saying: ‘Mummy, you’re not going to see this when you’re sleeping, but when you wake up the baby’s name is Angel - but you can change it if you want',” Christina said.
As well as being unable to see his newborn daughter, Nick was also unable to see his wife while she remained gravely ill in hospital.
“He had me in Prince Charles ventilated – couldn’t see me – Angel in the Grange, ventilated – couldn’t see her – and he had to tell my other kids that mummy might not come home because they didn’t think I was going to make it,” Christina said.
Nick requested that he video call Christina, who was still in a coma. Nurses didn’t think she would respond - but to Nick’s amazement, she opened her eyes.
By the time Christina woke up on March 8, baby Angel had been transferred back to Prince Charles Hospital. Before she was transferred, Nick was able to spend 10 minutes with his daughter.
He said: "I looked at her and she was so skinny. She was sort of translucent. Her whole hand was the size of the top of my thumb.”
But Christina was unable to see her daughter until the newborn was two weeks old.
“When I woke up they gave me a picture of the baby and I didn’t even remember I was pregnant - didn’t even know the baby was mine,” she said.
Virologists decided that although Christina was still testing positive, the load of Covid was so minimal that they were happy for her to finally see her daughter through an incubator.
Christina said she “never expected” to be hit so hard by Covid, and was previously more concerned for her husband, who is diabetic and has a rare kidney disease.
Now ten weeks old, baby Angel is now back at home with her loving family in Nelson and is said to be doing “amazingly”, while Christina continues to recover from the effects of coronavirus.
"I’m just high on life that we both survived," she said.
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