The Mum Who Refused To Believe Her Baby Was Really Hers

Danielle Johnson refused to believe her son had survived birth.

The 24-year-old went into labour five weeks early after catching pneumonia, forcing doctors to place her in an induced coma.

Surgeons performed a Caesarean section while she was unconscious, allowing Lucas to be born healthy, weighing 2.7kg. But when doctors tried to wake her up, she remained unresponsive for a further three weeks.

20 days after being put in a coma – she woke up. She was convinced Lucas had died and that the nurses were trying to kill her.

A Living Nightmare

Miss Johnson, from Manchester, said: ‘Everything that was going on in my head was a nightmare that I thought I was actually living.

‘I thought all the nurses were trying to kill me and that Lucas was dead.

‘I was very confused at first. I couldn’t speak properly or do anything so when people were talking to me I was just looking at them.

‘I just kept saying “you need to get me out of here” and “prove it” when they said the baby was alive.

My heart started pounding. I was so upset. I just couldn’t understand. When I was with it a bit I realised that my son was three-and-a-half-weeks old and I hadn’t even met him.’

She added: ‘He didn’t even have a name. I was just thinking what if I don’t get a bond with him – it was traumatising.

‘Even when I met him I was still like thinking that I was supposed to have a newborn baby – at first it felt like it was someone else’s baby.

‘I had a bond with him but it wasn’t the instant bond like I had with my daughter.’

‘When it sunk in that what went on in my head didn’t actually happen – it was such a relief.

‘I was very emotional. I just remember thinking “thank God for that – he’s fine, everything’s fine”.’

Four days later, she was finally well enough to meet her little son and she burst into tears and named him Lucas.

What a terrifying experience for them all. Totally understandable that the experience has left the whole family nervous.

Danielle said she panicked after suffering from a cold last Boxing Day, and her daughter, Mia, keeps asking her if she will go away again if she gets a cold.

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Image Daily Mail

23 Comments

- - becstalou said
  - 23 Jun 2018
    3:54 pm
The poor woman I’m glad it ended well.

- - Staceylee101 said
  - 22 Jun 2018
    9:43 pm
Sounds like a nightmare, glad both mum and baby survived and I hope are doing well.

- - mom81879 said
  - 22 Jun 2018
    3:44 pm
What a shocking situation to have been in. I can’t imagine being so out of touch with reality

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 01 May 2018
    10:42 am
I can well understand after reading this how she would have felt that way! How traumatising! I hope all is well now.

- - tessie said
  - 01 May 2018
    10:27 am
I hope that Danielle now has the bond with Lucas that she felt she missed with her daughter. Did anyone film the birth so she could watch that if she wanted to?

- - nadine_hill said
  - 30 Apr 2018
    9:43 am
Oh my, what a terrifying ordeal to go through – thank goodness all worked out well in the end!

- - mom94125 said
  - 01 Nov 2017
    2:05 pm
wow that would have been very traumatic for her to go through. thankfully everything turned out fine. What an experience! I bet that she will laugh about it one day but it wouldn’t have been funny at the time.

- - serotonin said
  - 06 Mar 2017
    9:56 am
Can only imagine how terrifying it would be to wake up and believe such a horrible situation was real. What a relief to find out it was just a nightmare. Wishing them all the best.

- - mom93821 said
  - 24 Feb 2017
    7:14 am
A traumatic experience and they will now be able to bond as a family.
- mom93821 replied
  
  25 Feb 2017 , 7:49 am
  Wishing them all well in life.
- - ella12 said
  - 21 Feb 2017
    12:27 pm
Glad to hear all is well now.

- - robyn_smithwick said
  - 20 Feb 2017
    5:23 pm
So glad it all turned out well

- - tessie said
  - 19 Feb 2017
    10:47 am
What a terrifying experience to go through. I’m so glad that she was able to finally accept that her son had survived and that she got to bond with him. Hopefully with time these scary feelings will all fade away.

- - cherz said
  - 18 Feb 2017
    8:23 pm
Terrible experience to have gone through …wishing them all the very best.

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 17 Feb 2017
    10:45 am
What a horrible experience- that poor mother, I can’t even imagine!

- - Ellen said
  - 17 Feb 2017
    7:46 am
A terrifying experience for them all indeed !
Thank God it all worked out ok.

- - mom101628 said
  - 16 Feb 2017
    10:56 pm
Trauma can cause horrible things to happen. Glad it all worked out OK in the end.

- - june11 said
  - 16 Feb 2017
    10:21 pm
Such a traumatic experience that should have been a joyous one. Obviously in her particular case it was easier to induce the coma than it was to reverse it. She wouldn’t have felt the after c-section pain so she wouldn’t have realised that her baby had been born 3 weeks + earlier. She missed out on what is the normal bonding process.

- - mom160421 said
  - 16 Feb 2017
    9:49 pm
Wow, what a terrible situation to go through. I wish this family well.

- - mom57619 said
  - 16 Feb 2017
    6:28 pm
This would have been terrifying.

- - rovermum said
  - 16 Feb 2017
    5:47 pm
What a terrible and traumatic experience for this new Mum. Not one I’ve heard of before, but I can only imagine her distress.