I coughed so hard that my placenta detached... things quickly went downhill

A NSW mum gave birth in the most traumatic way, in a city thousands of kilometres away she’d never even stepped foot in.

Josephine Agostino

5 min read

July 28, 2025 - 10:59AM

Family Life

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In the early months of her high-risk pregnancy, Jamie took every possible precaution so that her first-born would arrive safely into the world.

The 27-year-old, who has only one kidney, regularly met with midwives and specialists for monitoring at her local hospital in Wilcannia, in north-western NSW, and had planned to give birth at Broken Hill Hospital, which was two hours away.

But when a light cough turned into something she never expected, Jamie’s entire world changed.

At 23 weeks along, Jamie contracted RSV.

“That’s when things started going downhill,” she tells Kidspot.

“I was coughing so hard that my placenta detached, which then caused pre-eclampsia.”

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“I was just praying for her to be OK, and when she cried, I knew she would be." Photo: Supplied to Kidspot

"They hooked me up to all these machines"

On August 6, 2020, when Jamie was 27 weeks, she underwent a three-hour observation at Wilcannia Hospital which showed her blood pressure was sky high: 180/80. She was advised to take a break from work and rest for the following week.

But that same afternoon, just as she arrived in Broken Hill for a friend’s birthday, Jamie was ordered straight to the town’s only maternity ward.

“They hooked me up to all these machines and I initially thought they would give me some things to bring my blood levels down,” she says.

“Then I was told I would need to be flown to Adelaide to be checked. All I had with me was an overnight bag… I had nothing with me.”

“I hadn’t eaten and started having a panic attack after being swarmed by a large group of doctors who were poking and prodding me.” Photo: Supplied to Kidspot

"A large group of doctors who were poking and prodding me"

At 1.30am the next day, Jamie was airlifted to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, while her partner, Kym, followed closely behind, making the five-hour journey by car.

“I was freaking out… I was cold, I was hungry and everything hurt, and on top of that, Kym was held up at the border for two hours because of complications with his COVID border pass.”

Jamie was again hooked up to machines at the Adelaide hospital but didn’t last long there, either.

At 4pm, she was transferred to the ICU of another hospital 30 minutes away, the Flinders Medical Centre, because her organ failure couldn’t be treated where she was.

“I was delirious by that point,” she remembers emotionally. “I hadn’t eaten and started having a panic attack after being swarmed by a large group of doctors who were poking and prodding me.”

"I was in complete and utter shock over what had happened… it took me two days to just comprehend why things went the way they did.” Photo: Supplied to Kidspot

"The only way to save my life and hers was to remove my placenta"

It immediately became clear that Jamie would not be giving birth in Broken Hill at all.

Dangerously, her baby girl’s growth had completely stopped, and her measurements were only that of a 24-week-old. The detached placenta no longer delivered any nutrients to the unborn baby and was threatening to fatally poison her mother.

“The only way to save my life and hers was to remove my placenta.”

So that night, at 7.30pm on August 8 - in a hospital she has never been to, in a city she had never stepped foot in, and an entirely different state to where she lived - the brave mum delivered her tiny, 640-gram and 33-centimetre baby girl, Eidah, by caesarean section.

“I was just praying for her to be OK, and when she cried, I knew she would be,” she vividly recalls.

“But I was in complete and utter shock over what had happened… it took me two days to just comprehend why things went the way they did.”

“They said I couldn’t because I was from a different state and had to cross the border to give birth to her, I just wanted to know she was OK.” Photo: Supplied to Kidspot

"I wasn't allowed to see and hold her for two weeks"

Heartbreakingly, Jamie’s first week of motherhood was filled with desperate attempts to see her daughter in the NICU, which was not permitted because of COVID regulations at the time.

Despite testing negative in four PCR tests, Jamie was confined to her ICU room for six days in her 14-day COVID hospital isolation period. Sadly, Kym was prohibited from seeing his daughter for the same amount of time because he had also crossed the border.

“I wasn’t allowed to see her, touch her, or hold her for two weeks,” she remembers sadly.

“They said I couldn’t because I was from a different state and had to cross the border to give birth to her, so I had to go into isolation. I just wanted to know she was OK.”

The forced separation is a horrible memory Jamie will never, ever forget.

“I was very angry… I was scared I was disheartened and in shock,” she says.

“I couldn’t believe that others were allowed to hold her and change her nappy and I couldn’t do any of that.”

"I was somewhere I had never been to, with family only coming briefly to support me and no friends there.” Photo: Supplied to Kidspot

"I didn’t have a choice - they gave her donor milk"

Unbelievably, Jamie was also not allowed to provide her own daughter with her breast milk.

“I had to throw my colostrum away, which made me so angry,” she says.

“She came from me, yet they said there would be a danger of cross-contamination. So I didn’t have a choice - they gave her donor milk.”

Jamie spent the next four months mostly on her own in hospital accommodation as she anxiously waited for Eidah to become strong enough to leave the NICU.

“It was very isolating - I was somewhere I had never been to, with family only coming briefly to support me and no friends there.”

“Eidah blows my mind every day about how far she’s come and is the best big sister." Photo: Supplied to Kidspot

"I'm thankful for the journey to have her, despite the trauma"

In May this year, Jamie and Kym welcomed their second child, a son named Rodger, who was born three weeks early.

This time around, they weren’t taking any chances of having to deliver him in Adelaide, because it was yet another high-risk pregnancy.

Instead, Jamie moved in with her Queensland-based family for the last six months of the pregnancy so that she could give birth at the nearby Toowoomba Hospital to have all the medical and family support that she needed in one place.

Now happily back in Wilcannia with two-year-old Eidah and three-month-old Rodger, the mum-of-two is grateful for her blessings, and will never forget just what a miracle it is to have her family all with her, safe and sound.

“Eidah blows my mind every day about how far she’s come and is the best big sister,” she smiles.

“I’m thankful for the journey to have her, but I’ll always be traumatised by it.”

Originally published as I coughed so hard that my placenta detached... things quickly went downhill