I was on the Disneyland trip of lifetime when I gave birth to a baby girl I had no idea I was carrying – now we’re stuck in a disaster zone not allowed to bring her home to Australia
An Aussie mother who gave birth to a surprise child during a deadly hurricane has issued a desperate plea after being told she’d have to wait months to return home.
Dayna Sly gave birth to baby girl Audrey, who she had no idea she was carrying just before the massive deadly Hurricane Milton struck Florida last Wednesday night.
Ms Sly said she had issues when she got off the contraceptive pill but doctors were ‘convinced’ that she had polycystic ovary syndrome.
With no noticeable baby bump or morning sickness, she was convinced she wasn’t pregnant until she suddenly went into labour while the storm smashed the state.
Paramedics were able to quickly reach her but were unable to get her to a hospital before little Audrey was born in a hotel bathroom in the middle of a blackout.
While Ms Sly, her fiancee Tony O’Keefe and their baby girl survived the hurricane unscathed, they’re now locked in a bureaucratic nightmare as Audrey is a citizen of the US.
The Aussie couple from Raymond Terrace in the NSW Hunter region have to apply for Audrey’s Australian citizenship, which could extend their original holiday to Waly Disney World Resort by up to seven months.
While their travel insurance covers their medical bills, they would not be able to stay in the country while waiting for her citizenship to be approved.
NSW woman Dayna Sly has been placed into bureaucratic limbo gave birth to a baby girl Audrey (both pictured) she didn’t know she was carrying while on holiday in the US
Dayna Sly and Terry O’Keefe have issued a desperate plea to the Australian government
Mr O’Keefe said the Australian government hasn’t ‘guaranteed her citizenship’ and have been forced into a stalemate drying up their savings.
‘They just asked us to pay $360 and they’ll ‘get back to us’ when they can if they grant her citizenship,’ he told Weekend Today.
‘We’re Australian citizens, we don’t have that sort of balance, or funds, to live here for almost a year.
‘We’re Australian, we would love to go back to Australia.’
Ms Sly added: ”I’ve got to get home and we don’t know if they’re going to let us home or if we can even get home in the near future.
‘We’ve got travel insurance, thank God, but the main concern is trying to get back to Australia.’
‘She’s technically got an American birth certificate and at the moment we’ve been trying to contact the Australian authorities and we were jumping through some hoops yesterday just to get some help.’
On Sunday afternoon, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman confirmed with NewsWire the government was helping the couple.
‘The Australian government is providing support to two Australians in the United States,’ the spokeswoman said.
‘Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.’
Her and her fiancee Tony O’Keefe need to wait up to seven months for Audrey (both pictured) to be granted Australian citizenship
The couple were in Orlando on a holiday to Walt Disney World Resort (pictured) when Hurricane Milton smashed Florida earlier this week
Despite the uncertainty, the new mother said Audrey was doing ‘really well’ even with the lack of pre-natal care or preparation.
‘I can’t believe how well she’s doing considering some of the stuff Mum was doing, like going on rides and going on a plane at 41 weeks pregnant,’ Ms Sly said.
Her fiancé Tony was asleep when Audrey arrived.
‘ When I first woke up I thought, ‘This is the weirdest dream ever’,’ he said.
‘Good morning, you’re a dad.’
At least 17 people have died as flooding inundated huge areas of the low-lying state.
More than 2.2 million homes and business lost power, many of which are still without electricity days later.
The hurricane bore across Florida toward Orlando about 180kms northeast of the landfall point.
The county which Orlando sits in dodged widespread power outages, with about 5 per cent of connections knocked out.
Two-thirds of homes and businesses lost power where the hurricane made landfall, and 20 per cent of the counties neighbouring Orlando lost power.