Mothers give back to neo-natal organisations

SINGLE West Clare women can barely contain their excitement as Sunday, March 31 approaches. That evening, the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point will host Take Me Out West Clare Style. Some of the 12 men seeking a date are believed to be Clare football panellists, while county goalkeeper Joe Hayes has been lined up as master of ceremonies.

His team-mates are well used to Hayes issuing curt instructions to the Clare backline but in seven weeks’ time, the Lissycasey man will be doing his best to line up a date or two for his on-field colleagues. That task might be even trickier than imploring them to defend the Clare goalmouth.

The principal event organisers are Kelly Power, who is from Quilty but lives in Cooraclare and Maeve Foley, who is from Tullycrine but lives in Annagh. Both girls have given birth to premature babies in recent years. Proceeds from their fundraiser will be donated to the neo-natal unit in the Mid-Western Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick, the Brú Columbanus charity in Cork and the Irish Premature Babies’ Association.

Kelly’s son, Cian, will be three in April. His mother laughingly describes him as “stone mad” and a lot bigger now than when he was a premature 4lbs 10oz baby.

“I went into hospital in Limerick at 35 weeks. I was there for a week and he was taken on the Friday because his heart rate dropped. He was in the neo-natal for three weeks. I was let home five days afterwards. So then I travelled down every morning at 9am and didn’t leave until 8pm every evening,” Kelly explained.

“There was a family room but only one person could stay in it, although there were several incubators. It was tough going up and down and it is expensive. It’s emotionally hard,” she reflected.

Cian’s early arrival hasn’t dented his development. “They told us in hospital that he was going to be slow developing and not to expect him to be doing things that he should be. But at his three-month check-up, he was ahead of babies that were full term. He walked at 10 months,” Kelly proudly revealed.

Maeve’s daughter, Abbey, is now 15-months-old and was a mere 3lbs at birth. She went for a scan at 30 weeks and was immediately sent to hospital in Limerick.

“I was kept for two weeks. I got scanned every single day. The baby wasn’t getting enough food or oxygen. After the two weeks, I was sent to Cork because they didn’t have enough beds for babies in Limerick,” Maeve said.

Abbey was born in Cork but then Maeve briefly moved to Brú Columbanus in the city. The organisation is an independent group that provides “home-from-home” accommodation for relatives of patients in any of the Cork hospitals.

“You give a donation when you leave. It was like a hotel, you had your own room and bathroom. You don’t have that in Limerick at all. Then, when Abbey was stable, we brought her back up to Limerick,” Maeve recalled.

Facilities in Cork were excellent and while both women were very appreciative of the professionalism and expertise of the nurses in Limerick, the neo-natal facilities are not on a par with Cork. Limerick hospital has just one neo-natal room.

“In Cork, they had a different room depending on the baby’s condition. They have a dark room in Cork, where all the lights are off and all the babies have goggles on them. It’s to pretend they’re still in the womb but in Limerick you see the babies with the goggles on them and all they have is a curtain around them,” Maeve noted.

Kelly found it emotionally draining waking up in a room full of babies, while Cian was being treated in a separate room.

“We were both in wards with babies around us, while our babies were in neo-natal. You’d wake up and you’d hear babies crying but it’s not your baby, which I thought was very unfair. I thought you should be put in a room with other mothers, who didn’t have their babies with them either,” she reflected.

However, Kelly had only kind words to say about the nurses in Limerick. “They’re so good. I wouldn’t be able to do the job they are doing. They’re angels,” she said.

Both girls had emergency caesarean sections and their experiences helped them to bond.

“We knew each other and then the babies brought us together. When Maeve went through what she did, I knew how she was feeling,” Kelly noted.

They are hoping the March 31 fundraiser will raise badly needed funds for their three nominated recipients. Maeve and Kelly are insisting, however, that all participants in Take Me Out West Clare Style must be single. “They’ve been warned,” Maeve laughed.

The dozen men will have about 15 women to haggle a date from. “We’ve a few as back-up as well,” Kelly said. A designated room will be set up for informal dates, which will establish if the perspective couple actually get on.

“If you get a date they’ll be going into the ‘Shifters’ Lounge’. It will be streamed back to the main room on a big screen. Each date will last a few minutes,” Kelly said.

Tickets are available from Kelly on 087 2853070, Maeve on 087 6168396, The Beehive hair salon in Miltown and The Armada Hotel.