A BASILDON nurse has finally been reunited with her newborn baby after battling Covid for three months.

Eva Gicain, 30, who has no memory of giving birth to her baby daughter Elleana while being seriously ill with Covid, has now been discharged and was given a round of applause by staff at the Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire.

Eva, an NHS nurse herself in London, was taken to Basildon Hospital at the end of October, when she was 34 weeks pregnant, and gave birth a week later.

And just days later, she was rushed to the Royal Papworth Hospital and became one of the youngest patients ever to be put on to the critical care ward's "artificial lung" for acute respiratory failure.

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And while Eva was unconscious, her newborn daughter spent three weeks in Basildon Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.

Dad Limuel, also 30, wasn't able to visit either of them because he was also fighting his own battle with coronavirus at home.

Eva said: "The first thing I remember is just a few days before Christmas and being told where I was, what I had been through and that Elleana was doing well.

"I was able to regularly video call my husband, Limuel, and Elleana, and we spent a long time on the phone together on Christmas Day, although I couldn’t speak much as my throat was so sore from having been ventilated.

"Not being able to see them in person and touch them was so difficult; I was determined to get home to them as soon as possible.

“I am feeling much better now.

"When I held Elleana for the first time I didn’t want to let go. It was a special moment.

“Life is unpredictable and we are now just looking forward to being a little family and spending time together.c

Mr Gicain added: "I was very unwell so I couldn’t leave the house, never mind visit either my wife or daughter.

"It was so horrible the three of us being in separate places at a time when we should all have been together.

“I was finally able to visit Elleana just in time for her being discharged from NICU on 21 November.

"We knew we were having a girl and had discussed the name, but I didn’t know how Eva wanted to spell Elleana, which meant I couldn’t yet get her registered. Luckily, I found some personalised pyjamas that Eva had bought which were meant as a Christmas present and so I managed to get the spelling from there!

“My manager at work has been so generous to give me time off throughout this whole period so I can be there for Eva and Elleana: I am so grateful for that.”