Laura Curtis was 20 weeks pregnant when she first tested positive for Covid-19.

The pregnant mum’s symptoms continuously worsened until she ended up in hospital in a medically induced coma for 17 days.

Laura told RSVP Live that she didn’t feel extremely unwell at first: “It was just tiredness, I didn’t feel the best.”

However, as the days passed, her symptoms got worse and she developed a cough and breathlessness.

In the beginning, there wasn’t a major concern for Laura but as her temperature started to rise she recorded 39.5 degrees. She also got both hot and cold sweats and flushes.

At 20 weeks pregnant, Laura was worried about her baby: “I was just afraid because my body was overheating because I was pregnant.”

She contacted her GP on a Friday, got a Covid-19 test on Saturday and by Sunday she knew she tested positive.

By Tuesday, Laura’s condition had gotten worse, her boyfriend Robbie decided to call an ambulance: “I was in bed, and I was coughing and coughing and coughing, and I was kind of gasping for breath. At that stage. I just kind of couldn't catch my breath.”

Both Robbie and Laura’s mother tested positive as well, but both of them had gotten vaccinated.

At that stage, vaccinations were not recommended for pregnant women, this had changed by the time Laura left hospital.

When she entered the hospital, she was put on oxygen straight away. At first, doctors used a small tube, but she was upgraded to an oxygen mask: “Every day, my oxygen was just getting worse and worse.”

Laura says it got to the stage that doctors had no choice but to put her in a medically induced coma, but she wasn’t aware of the decision because she was so sick: “Even if they had told me, I probably wouldn't have comprehended it because I didn't really know what was going on at all.”

For 17 days Laura was unconscious and unaware of her surroundings as she was having incredibly vivid dreams: “Robbie was allowed in and he was playing music into my ear and I wasn't aware of any of this.”

One major concern in Laura’s case was her baby, every treatment they used, they had to make sure it was safe for her child: “That was one of the reasons I was such an intense case.”

“I got an infection while I was under sedation, and there were huge concerns over what they could give me. They were always having to check with the Rotunda and in constant communication with them.”

“There was huge concern because they were trying to save myself, the pregnancy and the baby.”

Doctors made the decision to reduce Laura’s oxygen levels which she responded positively to but when she woke up she had to deal with the side-effects of being in a coma: “I couldn't really speak. My voice is very damaged. My throat is very damaged from the ventilator. I was just very, very, very thirsty and I'm still coughing a lot.”

After waking up Laura was discharged relatively quickly and continued to recover at home and get ready to welcome her baby.

In July at over 38 weeks pregnant, she welcomed her daughter Demi to the world: “I was induced because they wanted it to be as controlled of a situation as possible.”

“There were major concerns and I was in every Thursday getting checked over. Every day of my pregnancy until she was born I worried.”

Demi is a very healthy baby and shows no signs of complications due to Covid-19.

But this isn’t the end for Laura on the Covid-19 front as she has been restricted from getting further scans due to her pregnancy. She found out before giving birth that her lungs were still covered in the virus and pneumonia: “My throat still isn’t great, I lost the majority of my hair, it came out in clumps when I came out of hospital.”

She says she’s getting back on her feet and is due for further X-rays and tests in October.