Hi everyone,
I’ve been thinking about posting this for a while because I genuinely want to hear from other parents.
In 2020 I lost my daughter, Maya, at 28 weeks pregnant. Throughout my pregnancy I knew something didn’t feel right, but my concerns were repeatedly reassured rather than investigated. After she died, the post-mortem found that her umbilical cord was hypercoiled, which had reduced the blood flow to her.
It has taken me years to process what happened, but I’ve recently started speaking publicly about it again because I don’t want other families to experience the same heartbreak.
Since sharing my story, I’ve been contacted by many women with similar experiences. Some had excellent maternity care, but others have described feeling dismissed when they knew something wasn’t right.
I’m now trying to gather experiences from across the UK—both positive and negative—to understand whether this is a wider issue and to help inform proposals I’m preparing on improving maternity care.
I’m not looking to blame individual doctors or midwives. I genuinely want to understand:
- Did you ever feel your concerns weren’t taken seriously?
- Were you offered additional scans or monitoring when you felt something was wrong?
- If you had excellent care, what made the difference?
I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences, whatever they were. Even if your pregnancy had a positive outcome, I’d love to know what helped you feel listened to.