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Olga Lukavska gave birth to the first Ukrainian born in Killarney.

Olga Lukavska sways her new-born son Marko in her arms.
She speaks softly so as not to wake the baby. Her eyes glow with happiness. A few weeks ago, Olga gave birth to her third son. She has come a long and difficult way to give birth abroad.
Olga lived in Kyiv with her husband and two sons. Her husband is a musician, Olga is a speech therapist teacher and was six months pregnant when the war broke out.
The family did not really believe that war would break out. Therefore, emergency suitcases were not ready and there was no evacuation plan.
They simply lived their lives in peace and prayer. Olga and her husband prepared for the birth of a child through The Secret of Happiness St. Jude Novena prayers.
At the beginning of the war, Olga's two sons were with her grandmother in Western Ukraine.
On February 24, she woke from explosions. The war started very loudly. Next to Olga's house is Gostomel Airport, where the Russian landing party began arrived.
It was necessary to evacuate immediately. Friends offered to take Olga's family out in their car. But all the roads from Kyiv were filled with cars, traffic jams stretched for many kilometers. All 4 million Kyivites tried to leave the capital as soon as possible to escape.
To get to the evacuation car the pregnant woman and her husband had to cross fields.
"This field has been my biggest test," says Olga. She ran across the field in complete darkness, holding a guinea pig cage in one hand and her stomach in her other hand.
The man with their things was running nearby. There were constant explosions around, helicopters flew low, the airport was on fire on the horizon, where there was already a battle with the Russian landing party.
At that moment, Olga was thinking about what she should do to save her future child. She and her husband prayed incessantly. Olga still thanks God for her salvation. At the last moment, they managed to get in the car and leave.
Along the way, they saw rockets hitting different cities. The road to western Ukraine stretched for 15 hours. And then the journey continued for a few more months.
Olga's husband stayed, and she and her two small children, mother and brother, left. "We thought we were leaving Ukraine for a few weeks and would have time to return to childbirth," she said. However, fate took the family across Europe and eventually led to Ireland.
After staying at the Killarney Hotel, Olga had a lot of worries, because it was necessary to arrange for children to go to school and kindergarten, Prepare for childbirth, learn how the medical system works and collect all the necessary things for the baby.
She says that the birth went as well as she did not even expect. For this she is grateful first of all to God, but also to the medical staff, volunteers from KASI and all the people who supported her. Parents from St Olivers and the Ballyspillane centre also helped her.
"I received a lot of support from the people who helped me at every stage, from organising medical care to collecting things in the maternity hospital, buying all the necessary things for my son: a stroller, clothes, diapers."
The medical staff also impressed Olga with their attention and professionalism.
"Now, when I look back a few months ago, I realise that I was under a lot of stress. But my psyche was strong. Now I will remember our long journey from Kyiv to Killarney like a dream. During which I had only one thought that I should save the children. It was my mission that gave me incredible strength. It was only in Ireland that I consciously lived my days and was able to exhale,” Olga says.
Nobody knows how long the war will last in Ukraine, so the Lukavsky family plan to stay in Ireland. In autumn her husband will come to Olga and the whole family plans to move from the hotel to their own apartment.
She really believes in people's care.