‘She is our little miracle’ – Cork mother gives birth to baby girl after 23 miscarriages

Cork mother Georgina O’Shea is “over the moon” after the safe delivery of her daughter, Rylee – nearly two decades after she gave birth to her other child, Leon, who celebrates his 19th birthday in June.

Georgina emotionally urged people to never give up hope – and that miracles do happen.

“She is our little miracle – she was given to us unexpectedly. We weren’t hopeful of another baby,” Georgina told RedFM’s Neil Prendeville Show.

“Never give up – there is always a reason. Even if the doctors tell you that your chances are slim, miracles do happen. Life has a funny way of adjusting. But I would never give up hope. For sure, Rylee is our miracle baby.”

Georgina had featured on the Cork radio show almost a decade ago as she spoke publicly of the suffering caused by multiple miscarriages.

In total, she suffered 23 miscarriages.

“I had an ectopic pregnancy so I had one of my tubes removed, They discovered scarring on the other tube and told me a pregnancy was very unlikely,” she said.

“There was a whirlwind of emotions when we found out (last year) we were expecting a baby.

“There were 23 miscarriages in total. In one sense it became the norm – if we fell pregnant it was almost as if you expected it. It was sorrow rather than joy because you felt ‘I know where this is going’. That is why Rylee is our miracle baby.”

After her seventh miscarriage, Georgine even went to a specialist in the United States but to no avail – until now.

“What is meant for you won’t pass you by,” she quipped.

Georgina said that when she went for a scan last year with her husband, Ken, they were clearly able to see baby Rylee.

“There was a glimmer of hope, I have to say that. We could see her heartbeat. It progressed to the point where we were seeing things we had never seen before (because of the early miscarriages). From 23 weeks I began to accept that I was pregnant and we now had a viable pregnancy.”

Georgina said Ken was as nervous as herself – but her son, Leon, was incredibly positive, convinced that everything would work out fine and his baby sister would arrive safely.

“From 30 weeks it was mentally tough because I felt I was so close but yet so far,” she said.

“The weeks then flew by. The birth was extremely emotional – I remember looking up at Ken after she was born following 45 minutes labour and his face was soaked with tears.”

“Leon is ecstatic – he always wanted another sibling so to wait 19 years is something else. When all four of us were in the labour ward, it was something special. We were all on cloud nine.”

Making the celebration that bit extra special is that Leon is expecting his first child with his partner in just over a month.