RTE star Maura Derrane has told how she feared she was going to die as she gave birth.
The Today presenter lost two litres of blood after going into labour six weeks early with son Cal in May – and admitted she was “very afraid” of death.
She added: “It all happened so fast… I was there, bleeding slowly, organs in the way, trying to get the baby out.”
The 44-year-old was in Holles Street for three weeks before giving birth because of the high-risk condition placenta previa that she suffered with.
On screen hubby: Maura and Daithi | RTE
Terrified Maura was standing in the hospital corridor six weeks before her due date, when she started bleeding – which could have killed her if she was at home.
While being dealt with by emergency doctors, the TV star’s “whole body was convulsing because I was so scared.”
She added: “People have lost babies. I consider myself extremely lucky that I was in the hospital. That saved my life and the baby’s life, really.
“There are people that never even discover they have placenta previa and they have a bleed when they go into labour.
“That’s when it is really difficult, because you are in labour and they can’t stop the blood.”
Love: Maura and her TD husband John Deasy | VIPIRELAND.COM
And Maura told the Sunday Independent that despite knowing this all could happen – it shocked her totally when it did.
“The thing was, I never believed, because I felt so well, that it actually would happen and that things would go wrong,” she said.
“I am a real glass-half-full person by nature. I am not a worrier. And when this happened, I was so shocked because I didn’t believe that I would have a bleed.
“I didn’t believe that I would have an emergency section. They were planning to do a C-section anyway at 36 or 37 weeks, because of my condition.
“But at 34 weeks? Six weeks early, you know? And no doctor wants to take a baby out that early if they can avoid it. I was just sitting pretty, waiting, and this happened.”
