Meet the premature baby arrived on his parents’ BABYMOON at just 24 weeks – weighing a tiny 1lbs 6oz.
Megan Kelly, 23, and her partner, Michael Mcglinchey, 22, had just arrived at a cottage for a ‘relaxing break’ in Ballyoonan, Ireland, when she suddenly went into labour – 13 weeks early.
The first-time-mum rushed to the bathroom just before her baby boy arrived – and was caught by his dad, a steel fabricator.
The frantic couple realised that their son – who they named Shea – was not breathing and drove for 20 minutes to the Northern Ireland border to meet a waiting ambulance whilst administering CPR on their tiny baby.
After arriving at Daisy Hill Hospital, in Newry, Northern Ireland, the family was quickly transferred to the Royal Jubilee Maternity, in Belfast, where baby Shea spent four and a half months fighting for his life.
At one point doctors even advised taking him off life-support, but the tenacious new mum refused to give up on her boy who battled his way to full health.
Baby Shea, now one, finally left hospital on November 21st 2019 and is now a happy and bubbly little boy.
Megan, a former retail assistant, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, said: “It was so terrifying.
“I was looking forward to relaxing and getting some peace and quiet at the cottage on our babymoon and then all of a sudden I was in labour and before I knew it Shea was here.
“I was so scared in the car, I had to do CPR on him and I didn’t know if he would make it
“But he is a fighter and he battled everything he came up against and is now doing so well at home.
“It’s a miracle he survived, he is meant to be here.”
Just days before her son’s shock arrival, Megan had thought she was having contractions but medics assured her it was ‘just a urine infection’.
Feeling poorly, Megan decided to get away for some rest and relaxation and travelled to Michael’s family cottage on 6th July 2019.
After arriving at 7pm she suddenly began to feel sharp abdominal pains – which she quickly realised were contractions.
Megan said: “All of a sudden it started happening and I could feel the baby coming.
”I had just stepped through the door of the cottage and barely sat down and started to feel uncomfortable.
“I ran to the bathroom and started pushing there was no way I could hold him in.
“Michael was there with me and caught Shea as he fell out of me.
“I saw him and he was so tiny and I was so scared he wouldn’t make it.
“He came out in the sack and let out a faint cry but then he stopped breathing and went blue and grey very quickly.”
Shea was born weighing just 1lbs 6oz and was trying to breathe at first.
Megan wrapped him up in a blanket and rushed him out to the car with Michael – who drove them to Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry, 20 minutes away.
She said: “We were on the phone to the emergency services and they were telling me how to do CPR.
“Michael had to take over doing it as it was too hard when Shea still wasn’t breathing.
“I was so numb as I watched my son fighting to breathe.”
The couple met an ambulance and paramedics immediately put Shea on oxygen.
A team from the Royal Maternity Hospital in Belfast came to take over and after rushing him to the maternity ward put Shea on a ventilator.
“A doctor came over to me and said that it wasn’t looking good but said that Shea was really trying to live,” Megan said.
“He was fighting from the start and screaming his little lungs out.”
Medics revealed two days later that Shea had suffered a grade four bleed to the brain and Megan was told he wouldn’t have a good quality of life if he survived.
“They told me it was the best thing for him to turn the machine off,” Megan said.
“I was torn. I didn’t want my baby to die but I didn’t want him to have a bad life either.”
Megan decided to ignore the advice and took a chance to see if he would make it against all the odds.
Later that day Shea miraculously started showing signs of improvement and the doctors were able to start trying to feed him through a tube.
Things went downhill again when Shea got E coli, on Friday 12th July – nearly a week after he was born – and Megan was told the next 24 hours were ‘crucial’.
Miracle baby Shea pulled through, but a month later on August 3rd, he had an operation for a small bowel obstruction which he nearly didn’t survive.
During the procedure the four-week-old’s lungs collapsed and he went into cardiac arrest – but the brave tot managed to cling on.
Megan said: “The surgeon said: ‘I have never seen anything like it, we thought he wasn’t going to make it but he pulled through’.
“He just came back again, it was amazing.
“They were ready to give up on him after he went into cardiac arrest but he was a little miracle and came back all by himself.
“I couldn’t believe it, I thought I had lost him.”
Shea stayed in hospital for four and half months and battled two hernias and had to have laser eye surgeries for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).
Megan wasn’t able to hold her son for two months as he was too delicate to touch.
Despite being delayed developmentally, Shea, who is now one, is attempting to crawl around and sits up by himself.
“It was amazing to take him home,” Megan said.
“He battled so much and it’s incredible that he made it,
“He’s doing so well and loves to watch Iggle Piggle.
“He weighs 15lb 6oz now and can’t even fit his first nappy round his ankle.
“You wouldn’t really know anything had happened to him his is the happiest most bubbly baby who loves to torture us.”