‘Little miracle’ premature baby who defied odds set for first Christmas at home

By David Young, Press Association

A baby girl whose emergency delivery at just 25 weeks saved both her and her mother’s lives is at home for Christmas after months of hospital care.

Fiadh Coburn weighed just 1lb 12 oz when she was born on April 9th by C-section after mum Marie Louise suffered a major bleed due to a sudden placenta detachment.

Ms Coburn, a GP who lives in east Belfast, had already been in hospital for five weeks at that point because of complications with the pregnancy.

She and husband Jaimie, who is a cardiologist, have now reflected on the traumatic birth and their third child’s arduous journey through neo-natal intensive care in Belfast’s Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital.

“I was haemorrhaging so much that we were at risk of losing her and it wasn’t sustainable blood loss for me either,” said Ms Coburn.

“So, it was to save both of us really that she had to be delivered that night.”

The 36-year-old added: “Fiadh was almost see-through when she was born, and she just had to stay in an incubator with minimal handling.

“They advise you barely touch them within the first week, because the risk of brain haemorrhage is so high. But, you know, as time went by, she did get stronger, she got bigger.”

Fiadh would spend three months in hospital as doctors treated her and monitored her progress. She was finally discharged on July 21st – which coincidentally was her original due date.

Ms Coburn, who calls Fiadh her “little miracle”, said her daughter has managed to overcome several challenges, including a serious eye condition, and is now a healthy and happy baby girl who continues to meet all her developmental milestones.

“When we were looking for names, I was looking at names that meant things like warrior, because I knew she was going to have to be a fighter,” she said.

“We came across Fiadh, which means ‘wild’ in Irish, and I thought that was just perfect.

“In the hospital, they kept saying she’s a fighter and is so feisty that she doesn’t want to wear her mask and things like that.

“So she is feisty, and that has stood her in good stead.”

Mr Coburn, also 36, said he is so proud of his wife and daughter.

“It was obviously a very, very challenging time when Mary Louise became unwell,” he said.

“Unfortunately, I was working in Glasgow at the time, so I had to make a quick hop home and transition back to spending all my time here.

“But obviously it was a very, very worrying time for us. But Fiadh has come through everything, as well as Marie Louise, and we’re really, really proud of both of them.”

The family has been supported throughout that time by charity TinyLife, which offers a range of services for premature babies and their parents.

A TinyLife support worker was assigned to the family throughout Fiadh’s time in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) while another member of the team now calls out to the house regularly to help track her developmental progress.
Ms Coburn has also availed of the mum groups and baby massage sessions run by the charity.

“If you go to regular mum groups, people sometimes really don’t know what to say to you whenever you say ‘oh, she was born at 25 weeks and she was in NICU for three-and-a-half months’,” she said.

“People get a bit shocked, and they don’t know what to say, whereas in these TinyLife groups everyone has their own backstory, everyone’s been through trauma, and we all are able to support each other.

"And there’s something in that sort of shared trauma with each other that is just really helpful for all of us in kind of processing it and getting through it. So it’s been a wonderful, wonderful help for us.”

Ms Coburn said she now views the birth as a “memory of a difficult time”.

“At the time, that is how I got through things,” she said.

“I had to keep reminding myself that next year, or later on this year, this exact moment will be a memory of a difficult time. And whenever I was sitting in hospital, you know, 19 weeks, 20 weeks, not sure if I was going to be able to have a baby at the end of this at all, I had to remind myself, no matter what, this turmoil, this feeling will be a difficult memory, and that’s what it is now. It’s a difficult memory, and it very much feels like it’s in the past, which is great.

“We’ve been able to move through that. I think it’s important to feel the emotions at the time, to accept that you’re going through something traumatic, and to just feel how difficult it is, rather than pretend everything’s okay.”

Fiadh’s middle name – Elizabeth – also has a special meaning.

“That was my granny’s name, and she predicted that I was going to have a little girl,” said Ms Coburn.

“And she passed away just before Christmas last year, and that was the last time I saw her alive when she predicted I was going to have a little girl and she was right.

“So that was another little miracle. Fiadh’s full of little miracles.”

Ms Coburn said her older two boys Alex, six, and Max, four, absolutely adore their baby sister.

“It makes this Christmas even more special now that she’s here at home,” she said.

For more information on TinyLife and its services visit https://www.tinylife.org.uk/