Mum gives birth to 'amazing' IVF baby in bereavement suite while still suffering from coronavirus
A first-time mum has given birth to a “magic” IVF baby in a bereavement room while still suffering with coronavirus.
Claire Trusson, 37, fell pregnant after having IVF on the NHS following two years of struggling to start a family with her husband Murray Mitchell, 33, and a single egg was implanted in August 2019.
But weeks before her due date, she started to experience cold-like symptoms, which soon developed into a persistent cough.
Trusson went into isolation until she started experiencing contractions and was rushed to St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, near Sutton.
In a bid to keep her away from other mums-to-be, doctors had to put the Trusson in the most isolated room on the ward, which turned out to be the bereavement delivery room.
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Thankfully, after two days, the mum-to-be was sent home to await the results of her COVID-19 test, but just a day later the test came back positive and Trusson and her husband, a luxury travel agent, were told to isolate for 14 days.
However a week later, on March 30, Claire’s contractions became more frequent, and she found herself back in the bereavement suite giving birth to baby, Jake.
By the time she made it back to the isolated bereavement suite, the midwife could see the baby’s head.
Trusson says giving birth six weeks early while suffering from the virus was stressful.
“I didn’t want to go back into hospital,” the performer from Carshalton, explains.
“I knew from when I had been there, I felt like a bit of a drain on them.”
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But she actually found giving birth in the bereavement room strangely comforting.
“They have a memorial clock on the wall, and because I was timing my contractions when I was first in there, I spent a lot of time staring at that clock,” she explains.
“I found it quite comforting in a way - it’s so full of love.
“I did think at one point, ‘it’s a strange choice to have a memorial clock in a room where women are labouring.’
But she added that she was “really grateful” to have given birth to baby Jake and avoid further anxiety not knowing what giving birth in a pandemic would be like.
“In the scheme of things, I am super lucky - I’m well, he’s well and really it’s amazing.
“In a way, I am really grateful that I didn’t have another six weeks of anxiety of what giving birth would look like.”
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And thankfully, Claire was able to safely give birth to little Jake.
On the way home from hospital, Jake met his grandmother Angela and uncle David through the car window.
Now the family are busy adjusting to life as new parents, while also still remaining in isolation due to coronavirus, with the couple admitting about being concerned the virus could be passed onto their three-week-old son.
“Every little sneeze and every little cough and every little cry, I jump on him like ‘oh god, you’ve got coronavirus’,” she explains.
“I'm just trying not to breathe on him.”
Additional reporting SWNS.
