A mother's story of when her baby arrived early

A mum tells Helen O’Callaghan about having a premature baby.

WHEN Nicola Coughlan’s son, Sam, was born in May 2016 at 28 weeks gestation, he weighed just 2lbs and could fit in dad Ciarán’s hand.

“I felt very scared. It’s not your plan to have a premature baby. My plan was to have a normal delivery and go well into the late 30s in terms of weeks. I felt shocked and fearful of the unknown,” says Greystones-based Nicola, a financial analyst who’d had high blood pressure before getting pregnant.