Hi, my name is Jo. Tragically we lost our baby, Sam, last September. I was full term and was in labour for 27hours before he was found to have died. The labour ward was very busy. His heartbeat was present at 8pm, 7 hours later his heartbeat was gone. During this time I repeatedly reported to my midwife that I couldn't feel him moving and that I thought my membranes had ruptured. Nothing was done in this time to monitor me or reassess me and I was never put on a CTG monitor, as I should have been, which might have shown signs of fetal distress and enabled a caesarian which could have saved his life. My midwife "can't recall" many of the conversations of me reporting concerns and made no documentation of them. A note on the whiteboard stating "reduced fetal movements" was wiped off and my midwife claims she was unaware of it. I believe there were massive failings in the care I received.
The post mortem revealed he was otherwise entirely healthy but that he died due to cord entanglement and an infection probably acquired through ruptured membranes. We appealed to the coroner to undertake an inquest but she was unable to do this due to the legal definition that a baby needs to have taken a breath to be considered a human being in their own right. Sam never took a breath. The coroner does not apportion blame but conducts a thorough and unbiased investigation making recommendations for improvements in care. We feel this legal definition is wrong and that it would seem logical for a baby to be considered a human being in their own right after the legal age of abortion, which is 25 weeks gestation. We are campaigning to change the law as we believe coroner?s inquests, where applicable, could help make improvements in healthcare to tackle the terrible level of stillbirths we have in this country.
An independent investigation has not happened into the death of our baby and we are left trying to tackle this problem ourselves.