A Llantricent woman wakes up from a coma to find that her baby has been delivered.

A woman who was placed in an induced coma after suffering from severe pregnancy sickness has described how she gave birth to her baby.

Atalanta McIntyre, 29, from Llantresant in Rhonda Cynon Taff, suffered from severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, which Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG).

During an episode of vomiting, Ms McIntyre choked and had to be put into a coma by doctors.

When she regained consciousness, she discovered that her daughter had been delivered by caesarean section.

“I was so shocked and in disbelief,” Ms McIntyre said.

“I remember telling all the nurses and my partner that they were lying to me about having it.”

Sickness during pregnancy, often called morning sickness, is very common, with eight out of 10 pregnant women experiencing symptoms.

But some pregnant women experience severe vomiting and nausea, known as HG, which often requires hospital treatment.

According to the NHS, HG affects between one and three in every 100 pregnant women.

“My illness started early – from the second day I knew I was pregnant, before I even had a test,” Ms McIntyre said.

“After about six weeks, the morning sickness really started. Every morning, I would wake up sick. Everything I ate, I was getting sick.”

The illness became so severe that Mrs McIntyre required repeated hospital treatment for dehydration.

“I couldn’t put anything down. I couldn’t put medicine down or anything like that.

“People kept telling me ‘it will get better after the first trimester’ so, after 12 weeks, it will get better.

“I hit about 14 weeks, and it was still so weird that I couldn’t keep liquids down.

“That’s when they diagnosed me with HG.

“I was back and forth weekly, especially towards the end of the pregnancy, it was daily that I was back and forth at the hospital,” Ms McIntyre added.

In February 2024, during her 29th week of pregnancy, Ms McIntyre became ill while eating.

“I basically suffocated. [the vomit] And it went straight into my lungs,” Ms McIntyre said.

Ms McIntyre became so ill that doctors at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil had to put her into a coma on February 19.

“I was in it for 20 hours before they did a caesarean section,” she said.

“He [the baby’s] The heart rate dropped rapidly, and they said to my partner: ‘It’s time – we have to get her out now, or she won’t make it’.

Mrs McIntyre’s daughter, Poppy, was born prematurely at 29 weeks on February 20, weighing 3lb (1.4kg).

The child was taken to Singleton Hospital in Swansea for treatment.

When Mrs McIntyre awoke from her coma three days later, she described feeling terrified.

“It was scary — don’t know if [Poppy] “Well,” said Miss McIntyre.

“She was intubated and ventilated at the time, and she was in a completely different hospital to me.”

Ms McIntyre’s partner visited her during the day before heading to Singleton in the evening to spend time with her daughter.

About 10 days after waking from the coma, Ms McIntyre met her daughter for the first time.

“It was really scary for us, but it was amazing to see her and see how she’s progressed in the few days I wasn’t there,” Ms McIntyre said.

Now, at 10 months old, Poppy is living at home and doing well.

• Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is different from morning sickness, which affects about 80 percent of pregnant women.
• Morning sickness causes nausea and vomiting that usually improves by the 16th or 20th week of pregnancy.
• In contrast, women with HG may vomit more than 50 times a day and experience persistent and severe nausea, which significantly interferes with their daily life.
• Complications of HG can include profuse vomiting, significant weight loss, dehydration and malnutrition, endangering the health of both mother and child, and serious vitamin deficiency.

Ms McIntyre hopes that by talking about her experience with HG, she can encourage other pregnant women to seek help.

“I would say to other women – it’s not normal to feel this way,” she said.

“Don’t be pushed aside and told it’s just morning sickness … I was pretty much like the walking dead.

“I was dizzy, I was lethargic, I couldn’t hold my head up, I had constant headaches, I was constantly dehydrated.

“I couldn’t keep liquids down. Anything I smelled turned me off. I couldn’t eat fatty foods or anything like that. I could only eat light food – rice, bread. , ginger biscuits. It got really bad when I couldn’t even put it down.

“I lost a lot of weight during my pregnancy. The fact that she was born was three pounds.”