Colchester: Mum gives birth in a coma during Covid scare

Samantha Montgomery never imagined she would welcome her daughter Violet to the world while her life was in the balance in Colchester Hospital after catching Covid-19.

She has no memory of her baby being delivered via emergency c-section at 27 weeks’ gestation as she wasn’t conscious, and she couldn’t even hold her newborn daughter until she was a week old.

The 31-year-old caught Covid in August and although she initially thought she just had a cold, a lateral flow test confirmed she was positive.

Lifeline - Samantha was in a coma for a week

She said: “I was really scared. I had a chesty cough and felt a bit groggy then did a test and within seconds it was positive. I did another and again it came up as positive.”

Samantha had been vaccinated in February with her first Astra-Zeneca jab before she fell pregnant, but then the advice said she would need the Pfizer vaccine as she was expecting.

Unfortunately she caught the deadly virus before she was able to have her second dose, leaving her vulnerable.

“My breathing started to get worse and my husband Craig decided to call 111. They told him I needed to go to A&E,” she said.

Love - Samantha and baby Violet

An X-ray here showed a small patch of pneumonia on her lungs and she was given antibiotics and returned home.

Two days later she started being sick and collapsed on her bed, before ending up in Colchester Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

She said: “I was put into an induced coma and was so ill my husband Craig was told I may not get any better.

“I was really poorly – I’d turned purple, all the veins had starting going in my face and I had quite a lot of blood clots.”

An emergency c-section was performed to save her baby, and once Violet was born Samantha’s condition dramatically improved.

Also mum to Louie, five, and Alfred, nearly two, Samantha says her physical recovery is ongoing and has been very difficult.

She explained how she has been coughing up blood clots from the infection alongside the mental trauma of not being conscious for her daughter’s birth.

“Not being able to see Violet for her first week here was just awful,” she added.

“I’m still processing what’s happened to be honest. Violet has been through a lot – including her eye operation because of the rate her eyes were growing wasn’t OK – and it’s been a lot to take in.”

“I would urge people to get the jab, the risk of you being so poorly isn’t worth it. I thought I wouldn’t be here to see my children again and that just isn’t worth the risk.”