Three-time British Olympian and former world champion Hannah Miley went through a “whirlwind” at the beginning of November, giving birth to her first child prematurely.
Miley, a Scottish native who lives in Aberdeen, welcomed daughter Nula to the world six weeks early, and the newborn was unresponsive when she arrived, resulting in Miley and husband Euan having an extended wait before they could bring her home.
The 34-year-old mentioned in an Instagram post that Wednesday, Dec. 13 marked Nula’s due date:
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Miley spoke on the “overwhelming” experience on BBC Radio Scotland, detailing the range of emotions she’s experienced throughout the process.
“She was born unresponsive, which was quite traumatic for me and my husband to watch,” Miley said, according to BBC.
“She was very, very limp and had to be rushed away to be resuscitated.”
Miley could only watch as Nula lay in an incubator, waiting to have her first moment with her new daughter.
“The doctor was explaining what was happening to her and what she needed to do, but I couldn’t take any of it in. I was just staring at her because I hadn’t had the moment of her on my chest. She was taken away as soon as she was born.”
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Eventually, Miley was able to have more contact with Nula as her condition improved, leading to an emotional moment.
“It was just the moment when she gripped my finger,” said Miley. “We were allowed to put our hands in the incubator. after sterilizing them within an inch of their lives, and when she gripped my finger that was our first connection.
“When she gripped my finger you’re flooded with this huge surge of emotion and just absolutely in awe of her, and you’d do anything for her.”
Miley spent an extra five days in hospital before returning home, and it was around a month before Nula was healthy enough to join her.
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“The hardest part was lying in bed and hearing other babies crying out and their mums tending to them,” she said. “I was still in my bed on my own, and she was in neo-natal. I couldn’t turn my head and see her there.
“Leaving the hospital without her was brutal. You’ve got a picture of the three of us going out [hospital] hand in hand. It wasn’t like that. We left and she was staying behind and although I knew I was seeing her the next morning, that emotion was something I dreaded and hated.”
Miley represented Great Britain at three straight Olympics from 2008 to 2016, making four individual finals including three straight in the women’s 400 IM, placing sixth in Beijing, fifth in London and then fourth in Rio, missing a medal by just 15 one-hundredths of a second.
Miley owns two medals from the LC World Championships, earning silver in the 400 IM in 2011 (Shanghai) and adding a bronze on the British women’s 800 free relay in 2009 (Rome). She’s won five medals at the SC World Championships, including claiming 400 IM gold in 2012 (Istanbul).
Representing Scotland, Miley is also a two-time Commonwealth champion in the women’s 400 IM (2010, 2014), and she also won the event for Great Britain at the 2010 European LC Championships and the 2009 and 2012 European SC Championships.
Miley raced at the British Olympic Trials in April 2021, placing third in the 400 IM, and she ultimately announced her retirement the following December.