#stillborn campaign - Daniel & Sofia's story of infection

My husband and I were overjoyed when we found out we were expecting twins. I was told a long time ago that I may have trouble conceiving so we were thrilled with our news. After the three month scan, we told everyone our exciting news and it started to feel so real.

On Saturday 7^th December 2013 at 19 weeks pregnant my waters broke and I was rushed to the hospital. It was horrible; we couldn’t believe what was happening. We were taken straight to the maternity ward and they scanned me very quickly and said that both heartbeats were still there. I was told that I had to stay the night because a doctor would be on call the next day but was told that we wouldn’t be scanned properly until the Monday as Sundays the sonographer was closed. Sunday was full of bad news, they told us that this pregnancy wasn’t going to end well, we were devastated. I asked to be removed from the maternity unit as I couldn’t cope with all the other pregnant ladies.

Monday came and we had our scan, there was some relief when sonographer told us one twin was fine and still had full fluid but we were heartbroken when the heartbeat of the second twin could not be found. We went back to our room and we both had mixed emotions as we were told that this will become one pregnancy and all should be fine but upset about our other baby.

Tuesday morning came and the obstetrician came into see us. She informed us that this wasn’t going to be a happy ending. She said it was very likely that I would give birth to both babies sooner rather than later. Our world came crashing down, we were devastated. It was about 3pm and I started feeling unwell and had stomach pains, my husband called the midwife and she explained I was having contractions. At 3.40pm our son Daniel was born asleep. We didn’t get to see Daniel straight away because I was very ill and was taken to the delivery suite because they were expecting our daughter to be born. Nothing happened and they decided to take me to the ‘Forget me not’ room where it was away from the maternity wards. From then on I was told I had to stay in hospital so they could keep an eye on me because our case was very unusual. We were informed that I was at high risk of getting an infection and possibly getting septicaemia because the placenta from Daniel had stayed in. We finally got to spend two days with Daniel, was such a precious time but very upsetting, he was perfect. We then had to say our goodbyes as we decided to have a post mortem. Whilst in hospital I had to be monitored throughout the day, by taking my blood pressure and temperature daily. I was on antibiotics for a while to prevent an infection and they said I could go home.

I went home on Wednesday 18^thand was rushed back in on the early hours of Thursday morning because I was bleeding. I was scanned and was told that things looked fine, was then taken to the ‘Forget me not’ room where I was monitored and was told I would be coming off the antibiotics because they needed to see if there was any underlying infection that was being masked by the antibiotics. I then was moved near the maternity ward in a private room but it was difficult because all I could hear was babies crying. The thought of staying in hospital again was making me feel so down, I knew I was in the right place but was so frightened. Friday morning came and the obstetrician came and said I could go home, we were so relieved but we had to take my temperature throughout the day. She even gave us a little hope because she couldn’t believe our daughter was still here. I was so happy to go home and be there for Christmas day. We were finally home and all I did was rest and try to be positive about things. Sunday came and I wasn’t feeling 100%, my temperature was raised a little but it went down before bed. During the night about 1am I felt very cold, I was shivering quite a lot, I woke my husband and when I got up I was short of breath and was shivering so much. I was terrified, my husband took my temperature and it reached over 40 degrees, I thought I was going to die, right there and then. The ambulance arrived and took me straight to A & E. I was in majors for about 4 hours and was so frightened because there was talk of putting me into intensive care. Fortunately I was taken to the maternity ward and straight to the high dependency delivery suite. I was just over 21 weeks pregnant. As the risk to my own life had increased the doctors decided I would be induced as soon as the obstetricians came on duty but by 8.30am my waters broke and I started having contractions and Sofia was born at 9.05am. I couldn’t hold her straight away because I was wired up to monitors and drips so my husband held her first; she moved for a split second and died in his arms. She was perfect and looked just like him. They got her dressed and got me ready so I could hold her. We had photos taken with her; it just wasn’t how we imagined this would be for us. We were then moved to the ‘Forget me not’ room to spend time with Sofia and during that time I was due a blood transfusion because my iron levels were very low. This was given to me on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning arrived and we were told I could go home, I was discharged at about 5pm and that’s when we had to say our goodbyes to Sofia. It was so difficult; we didn’t want to leave her because we knew that it would be the last time. Our hearts were broken and we knew life will never be the same again.

Giada & Danny Liddy