An Edinburgh mum's breathlessness that left her unable to pick up her newborn daughter turned out to be a rare lung condition which has turned the family's life upside down.
Ella Mercer, a PHD researcher from Gilmerton found out she was pregnant in May 2020 just as the country had been thrown into a national lockdown due to the Covid pandemic.
With hospitals adjusting to overwhelming new circumstances, opening extra Covid wards and changing visitor rules it was a challenging time for new mums-to-be and their partners.
The 27-year old explained that her partner Rob wasn't allowed at any of the appointments or scans but as a first time mum she didn't actually know any difference at the time.
The couple got a private scan to find out the gender of their baby - a daughter who was born in January 2021, which Ella described as "really special."
But a bitter blow came later when the couple's close family missed out on meeting their first granddaughter and other special milestones that they will never experience again.
"More than anything I missed seeing my family - I’m an only child so this was my parent's first grandchild and I wish they could’ve shared the excitement more. They live in the south east of England and Rob’s family are in the Netherlands," she said.
Ella had originally planned a home birth so she could have her partner by her side, going into labour in the bath at their home on January 5. But when the labour wasn't progressing she was rushed to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
At 5am, the baby's heart rate was reducing in speed and Ella became breathless and unwell, losing lots of blood. Baby Rosie was taken away for oxygen while the hero nurse team worked on the new mum.
Three weeks later, after being put on strong antibiotics the new mum was allowed home, but the breathlessness didn't go away and Ella struggled to take care of her new daughter at home, heavily relying on her partner.
After repeated visits to her GP, several weeks later Ella ended up in A&E and after extensive tests was diagnosed with a rare lung condition brought on by going into labour.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live the new mum said:
"I had a really straightforward pregnancy, literally no problems whatsoever. I'd planned for a home birth with my midwife and we had everything set up and had the go ahead for that.
"The main reason I opted for a home birth was to try and make sure Rob could be with me through everything. I was also going to be allowed a second birthing partner, which would've been my mum, but unfortunately these rules changed during December.
"Rosie was due on New Year's Day but I didn't go in to labour until the evening of 4th Jan 2021. I basically laboured at home for 24 hours and on the afternoon of the 5th my waters broke whilst I was in the bath.
"By the evening I wasn't progressing and needed more pain relief so transferred to ERI. The midwives there was wonderful. Around 5am on the 6th Rosie started to have deceleration's in her heart rate that the doctors were a little concerned about so I was monitored closely.
"By this point I also started to become unwell - it's all a blur but I remember feeling breathless, I had a high temperature and I hadn't passed urine for over 24 hours despite being pumped full of fluids.
"I was sent for a cesarean and Rosie was born at 08:52 on the 6th Jan. She was briefly taken away for oxygen and the amazing medical team worked on me as I lost more blood than expected.
"It was also at that time that they suspected sepsis. I was transferred to the high dependency unit with Rosie at which point Rob had to leave due to Covid rules.
"I was on oxygen and lots of antibiotics and luckily stabilised quickly enough to go down to maternity ward.
"Rob was allowed to visit between 1400-1900 down there. I was still hooked up to lots of drips etc down there and wasn't actually able to breastfeed Rosie for 24 hours because I couldn't hold her properly so I syringe fed her- those first few nights were really tough by myself.
The 27-year-old continued: "So the first few weeks I was totally in that newborn bubble! We were in total lockdown at that point so it was just the three of us.
"I was on high dose antibiotics for three weeks to continue treating sepsis so we weren't too concerned by me being totally wiped out and exhausted at that point - I was still recovering. However, I continued to feel breathless.
"We mentioned it at my six-week postpartum check and said that if I was the same in a few weeks to call back and have some blood tests, which I did. My blood tests and physical exam of my chest were all clear so was told to watch and wait.
"By March my breathlessness was worse and my oxygen levels were dropping down to 90 percent if I walked up the stairs. I remember so vividly not being able to rock Rosie and sing to her without having to catch my breath so I went back to the GP and they referred me to the Western General day clinic - again, blood tests and x-rays showed nothing.
"To be totally honest, I'd become pretty disheartened by that point and was worried I was wasting medical professional's time so I just left it. But the breathlessness just continued to get worse and worse.
"I had to call Rob to carry Rosie upstairs because I couldn't do it safely anymore - just walking up the stairs made my vision blurry and made me feel close to fainting.
"I struggled to breathe even sitting down and my oxygen levels at rest were 88 percent whilst if I got up to do anything they were down to 82-84 percent. At the start of May my mum came up to visit and immediately told me to call the GP again.
"I called and asked for to steroids to see whether they might've helped but he said there was no way he was prescribing anything and to go up to A&E at the ERI. When I arrived I was put on oxygen but my oxygen levels weren't going up so they admitted me for further investigations.
"I explained to them that I was breastfeeding Rosie who was four months old at the time- it was also my first time being away from her lockdown and everything, so they arranged for me to be put in a side room so she could stay with me.
"The first night she slept in her pram next to my bed but the next morning two porters came in with a children's cot from the sick kids hospital as well as a small crib from maternity.
"They were the first of our many visitors. Lots of nurses and other healthcare professionals came in to see us that morning and told me how they'd been told at handover that there was a four month old baby on the ward and they were all so excited because they just never got to see children, working on the adult ward! They cooed over her and played with her and it was such a relief.
"The following days my oxygen levels still didn't come up despite being on oxygen 24 hours a day and I remember lying with Rosie at night wondering whether I was going to miss out on her life... miss her starting school and going to birthday parties.
"Tests finally revealed huge inflammation in my lungs and a diagnosis of hypersensitivity Pneumonitis - a rare disorder where my immune system attacked my lungs in response to an allergen - in my case, it was feathers from the pet cockatiels I'd had for 13 years."
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) happens if your lungs develop an immune response – hypersensitivity - to something you breathe in which results in inflammation of the lung tissue - pneumonitis, in this case the changes brought on from the mum going through labour.
Ella continued: "The consultant said it was likely that the changes caused by labour and sepsis triggered my immune system to overreact. I was placed on high dose steroids and my oxygen finally started to normalise and I could finally breathe again. I'd honestly forgotten what it felt like to breathe.
"I vowed then that I would never take another breath for granted again. We had to re-home our pets which was heartbreaking, as I'd had them for half of my life, and my mum and Rob had to deep clean our home and throw away all of our things as any exposure would jeopardise my recovery.
"I couldn't go home for a week after I was discharged whilst they made our home safe. It was a really hard time for both of them, arguable it was worse for them than me, especially given how poorly I was during labour too.
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"I was on steroids for 3 months altogether and my follow up tests showed an outstanding improvement in my lung function, although it's not quite where my consultant would hope it be yet.
"My treatment team can't believe the recovery I've made though - most people don't get better from this - I am so lucky. The physiologist doing my tests actually told me last time that I was used as a case study because my case and recovery was so remarkable.
"The health professionals on ward 204 gave me my life back. I'm a 27 year old new mum and you just never imagine you'd be in that position. The staff cared for me so well but they went above and beyond with their care for Rosie.
"Despite me being unwell, all I wanted was for her to be ok and they did everything they could to help me make sure that was the case.
"I signed up for the half marathon in November to raise money for the ward through the Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation. It's just a tiny something I can do to say thank you. I will never be able to thank them enough, though."
In May 2021 the new mum couldn't walk up the stairs, in May 2022 she is set to run a half marathon to give back to the hospital that got her through, Ella has raised £200 so far you can find out more and donate here.
