Families who welcomed miracle babies during Covid reflect on emotional journey

Scottish families who welcomed miracle babies during the coronavirus pandemic have recalled the heartbreak and joy they experienced during that tumultuous period.

March 2020 marked a new chapter in history as Covid-19 swept the globe, ultimately contributing to more than 10,000 deaths across Scotland.

Lockdowns, social distancing, remote working and overwhelmed hospitals became the new reality.

But amid the darkness there were glimmers of light and STV News has spoken to some parents who welcomed new life into a world turned upside down.

‘I lost all hope after two miscarriages – then my miracle boy arrived’

Dundee singer Stephanie Gibson had her miracle baby through her “least viable” egg after a traumatic miscarriage during lockdown.

Stephanie and her husband Mark are parents to toddler Ace after a gruelling IVF journey due to fertility issues.

Together for 17 years, the couple had always dreamed of starting a family after winning a Cash for Kids wedding competition in October 2017.

Baby Ace was born in February 2023 Stephanie Gibson

After four years of trying, doctors told the couple there was “zero chance” of them conceiving naturally following an examination. The couple was referred to an IVF clinic in February 2020, just weeks before the pandemic hit.

The pair were forced to wait months due to Covid and began their first egg retrieval in October when clinics reopened.

Stephanie, 33, said: “We figured we’d waited long enough, what’s a few more months?”

Three eggs survived the process, and doctors implanted the best one. A month later, Stephanie was thrilled to learn she was pregnant.

Overwhelmed with excitement, she bought an outfit for her baby.

“We were honestly over the moon – I couldn’t stop crying. I was so happy. We wanted this baby so much.”

But the couple were devastated to learn the baby had stopped growing at an eight-week scan at Ninewells Hospital, meaning Stephanie would be forced to undergo a medically induced miscarriage.

Stephanie and Mark with Ace. Stephanie Gibson

“I was looking at Mark and I knew something wasn’t right. He looked at me and gently shook his head,” she said.

“I lay there for ages just crying. I thought ‘why us?’ We were one egg down, and that was the best one. That was the hardest.

“The nurses were so nice and reassuring – they said I could take my time after this and handed me leaflets.

“I phoned my mum and burst into tears. She was devastated, too. I couldn’t even go around to hug her due to Covid rules.

“It felt like everyone around me had prams and babies leaving that hospital that day. I was sobbing my heart out.”

Stephanie says Ace is a 'very good boy' who loves animals — Stephanie says Ace is a ‘very good boy’ who loves animals

Stephanie and Mark continued their IVF journey with another retrieval in the summer of 2021.

They were cautiously optimistic when her pregnancy test came back positive, but Stephanie suffered another miscarriage while performing a gig.

“I knew something was wrong when I began bleeding. I was internally heartbroken – but I had to play and pretend everything was fine at a bar in the middle of nowhere.

“I got home and bawled my eyes out.”

Emotionally drained, the couple turned their focus to buying their first home.

However, in early 2022, with a renewed sense of hope, they went through their final egg retrieval.

“We had one egg left, and we were ready to give it another go. I didn’t really feel positive from the offset after everything. I didn’t want to get my hopes up again.”

In March 2022, Stephanie received a positive pregnancy test.

“I was crying – I must have done four or five pregnancy tests. I couldn’t believe it.”

The pair waited 12 weeks before sharing the news with family, who were “over the moon.”

Stephanie said the birth was a difficult forceps delivery, requiring a week-long hospital stay, but at last, her long-awaited baby arrived on February 4, 2023.

On the way home, they visited the IVF clinic to thank the staff who made their dream possible.

“We gave them cards and photos to put on the wall.

“Not a day goes by that one of us doesn’t say, ‘we made him with a little help from magic.’ Without the doctors and nurses at that clinic, he wouldn’t be here.”

Ace is now a happy, thriving two-year-old.

“He’s a very good boy. He loves animals, like Ace Ventura,” she said.

“It’s like looking at a piece of your heart running out into the world. We still can’t believe it.”

‘Covid nearly killed my baby girl – I still have nightmares’

A mum who gave birth to twin girls nine weeks early at home was devastated when doctors told her one of her babies had just hours left to live after contracting Covid while in hospital.

Mum-of-four Chloe Connolly gave birth to Esmaè and Averly in the bedroom of her home with the help of partner Darren McGuinness in North Lanarkshire on September 7, 2021.

She was on the phone to paramedics after she began going into labour but said the twins were born by the time an ambulance arrived.

“I was in pain all day and felt sick, but I went about as normal and went to bed early,” she recalled.

“I woke up with really bad contractions, and we phoned paramedics – they came ten minutes after Esmae was born.”

The twins were rushed to the neonatal unit at University Hospital Wishaw.

But their situation took a turn for the worse when Averly, who had a chronic lung condition, caught Covid in hospital.

Chloe and Darren were told she wouldn’t survive.

“The doctor said he didn’t know if she would even make it through the next hour,” she said. “I fell to the ground and couldn’t stop crying.

“I couldn’t even take in what they were saying. I was planning funerals for my baby in my head.”

Averly was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Glasgow and put into an induced coma for two weeks.

Chloe and Darren split their time between the two hospitals to keep an eye on each baby.

“I thought ‘she won’t survive this.’

“The doctors were phoning hospitals in London and America. I thought ‘they didn’t even know what to do, so what chance have we got?’ We’d lost all hope.”

But by day eight, Averly’s condition began to improve. She was taken off the oscillator and put on a conventional ventilator.

The family were told if her recovery continued, she would soon be reunited with her twin in Wishaw.

“I burst into tears. I was so emotional at the thought of them being together again,” Chloe said.

“The nurses had told me Esmae wasn’t settling at night – they said it was because she knew Averly wasn’t there – they had been together in the womb for so long.”

On October 18, Averly was back by her sister’s side.

“It was the most amazing feeling. Putting them together in the twin cot, they were rolling on to each other and their hands kept touching. It felt like a lifetime they were apart.

“I kept thinking what a fighter Averly must be as she was not meant to be here.”

The twins were discharged from hospital on November 12.

Averly and Esmae have achondroplasia, which is a bone growth disorder, and chronic lung disease – but their mum says they’ve made remarkable progress since 2021.

They love playing with their sister Aillie, who is a year older, and big brother Olly, 11.

Olly with Esmae, Averly and Allie Chloe Connolly

“The three girls act like triplets – though Aillie likes to think she’s a wee mum to them,” Chloe said.

“They love nursery – Averly uses a feeding tube but it doesn’t bother her, she takes it all in her stride. She has come on so much.”

But years on, Chloe is still haunted by the memory of nearly losing her baby girl.

“There were people who said Covid was ‘only a cold’; it nearly killed my daughter,” she said. “I still have nightmares from that – it was traumatising.

“Their dad doesn’t like talking about it – it’s impacted him in a bad way.

“They are too young to remember, which is kind of a blessing.

“But I look back at what we’ve been through as a family – and we are all still here. If we can get through that, we can get through anything.”

‘I was watching my newborn baby through a screen’

Tracey Maguire, the mum of one of Scotland’s youngest-ever coronavirus patients, has reflected on the trauma of being separated from her baby as the first lockdown came into force.

Peyton Maguire battled the virus after being born eight weeks premature on March 26, 2020, at Wishaw Hospital – and her remarkable tale of survival made headlines around the globe.

The newborn was two and a half weeks old and weighed just four pounds when she tested positive for Covid while in an incubator in the neonatal unit, despite having none of the tell-tale symptoms of the condition.

Tracy told STV News: “They told me we weren’t going to be allowed to go in to see her for at least two weeks at that point. I remember crying down the phone and saying ‘please, I have only spent 14 hours with my child since she’s been born.’ They phoned back and said, ‘You can come but your husband can’t.’ That was a blow for AJ.

“I remember getting pictures with Peyton coming through on an app. I’d sit there thinking to myself, ‘How is it that I’ve just had this baby, and I’m watching her through a screen?’

Peyton had been delivered early by C-section after Tracy was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a condition that affects pregnant women, following an appointment with her community midwife.

The newborn was being cared for in an incubator in Wishaw’s neonatal unit when Tracy and AJ were told the alarming news that she’d tested positive for coronavirus.

“It was a frightening time and very difficult for us,” Tracy said.

“Normally, if you’ve got a child that’s premature, you would get to spend a lot of time with them in neonatal and they encourage that. But the regulations and restrictions meant that they had to put it on a timetable. So I got 10am to 11am every day.

“A lovely nurse looked after Peyton when she was born, changed her first nappy, gave her the first bottle. I look at two sides of this and think it’s amazing she had somebody there to do it for her, but it should have been me. That’s the conflict inside of me.”

She added: “They are hard memories. They are meant to be beautiful memories of your baby being born and holding her, and the memories are very difficult because.

“Part of me thinks if I had her in May, would it have been very different? The answer is yes.”

Now four years old, Peyton loves making new friends and playing with her brother, James and one-year-old sister, Harley.

Tracy and AJ say their experience as a family inspired their decision to coach boxing classes for young people who are struggling post-lockdown.

“The memories and hard bits stay with us, but Peyton has been resilient to it all,” Tracy said.

“Peyton’s strength set the fire in us because she fought to be here. She was tiny and we looked at her then and thought, if she has that amount of fire in her at that size, then we have it to. She inspires us.

“Everything shut down when Peyton was small and we did worry for a while as there were no baby groups and it was harder to socialise. Now she is really confident and making friends.

“We just want to make the world better for her, Harley, James and another other kids in need of our support.”