I DIDN'T KNOW I'D GIVEN BIRTH!

Ciara Murray, 41, woke up a mum to a 10-day-old baby

- JOHANNA BELL

Rubbing my bump, I laughed with friends as I opened gift after gift. 'This baby is spoiled,' I smiled, holding up some cute sleep suits.

It was October 2015 and, at 36 weeks pregnant, I was enjoying my baby shower. Though this was my first child, after a smooth-sailing pregnancy with no sickness, I was relaxed about what was to come. Me and my husband John, then 34, were just excited to meet our little one. We'd decided not to find out the sex, but I was convinced we were having a girl. 'I just have a feeling,' I told John.

Then, a week after the baby shower, I got my first wave of nausea one morning. I'd heard of morning sickness early on in pregnancy before, but not in the last few weeks. John was out at his job as a farmer and I figured a nap would make me feel better. Only, I didn't make it to the bed. As I reached the bedroom, my head started spinning and I collapsed to the floor. I tried to get up but couldn't even move my head.

'What is happening?' I thought, my heart pounding with fear. All I could think about was my baby and I somehow managed to place my hand on my bump protectively. But it was like my body was paralysed. The only thing I could move was my eyes. I was completely helpless, unable to scream out for help. I'd have to wait for John to come home, but he wasn't due back for hours. 'It won't be long now,' I kept telling myself, as I lay sprawled on the bedroom carpet. I was so worried about my precious baby, who I hadn't felt moving since I'd collapsed. 'Please be OK,' I thought. Hours ticked by, and I must have drifted in and out of consciousness, because finally, what must have been seven hours later, I heard John's key in the front door.

'Is that you?' I rasped as he neared the bedroom, and I realised that my speech sounded slurred.