Latest news with #birthtrauma
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Bangor: Four-day-old baby died following 'gross medical failures'
A four-day-old baby died following "a gross failure to provide basic medical care" immediately before and during her birth, an inquest has concluded.A post-mortem examination confirmed Etta Lili Stockwell-Parry suffered oxygen starvation during her birth at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor in July 2023 - which lead to brain inquest found that midwives failed to spot warnings Etta's growth had become static on more than one occasion and she would "likely have survived" if she had been recognised as a high-risk coroner described it as "one of the most troubling cases" she had ever dealt with. The hearing in Caernarfon heard Etta's growth measurements had become static when full-term pregnancy was reached - indicating growth of the baby had stopped, a condition known as foetal growth mother, Laura Stockwell-Parry, told the inquest in a statement her daughter was "grey-coloured, limp and lifeless" at birth."I felt completely helpless and had no idea what was going on," she said. "Our beautiful little girl was on a ventilator with lots of tubes."Mrs Stockwell-Parry and her husband, Tristan, were told their daughter was having seizures, and would be transferred to a specialist unit at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, north west condition continued to deteriorate, with seizures becoming "uncontrollable" the court heard, so a decision was taken to stop treatment."We knew that she would not be able to survive," said Mrs Stockwell-Parry, adding "she passed away peacefully in my arms". Community midwife Kiera Fitzgerald, who was caring for Mrs Stockwell-Parry at home, admitted she failed to recognise the baby's growth had stalled."I'm really sorry, I misjudged that," she Fitzgerald said the mother should have been referred for a scan on the baby but she was instead booked into hospital to have an induced inquest heard the foetal growth issue was not spotted by at least two other midwives when Mrs Stockwell-Parry was admitted to the maternity Catrin Roberts said if she had spotted the growth charts, her approach would have been different."We thought she was a low risk. Static growth would make her a high risk," she said. Errors were also made monitoring the unborn child's heart rate on the labour ward, with the mother's pulse being recorded rather than the infant' Kate Robertson told Etta's parents she would be writing to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to express her concern at the investigation that had taken place into Etta's death."There has not been enough sharing of information, and I am not satisfied that all the findings of the investigation will be dissipated downwards to staff", she Cadwaladr University Health Board has been approached for comment.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Ex-MP Theo Clarke says maternity care changes must be made faster
Ex-Conservative MP Theo Clarke has criticised the government for its lack of progress in improving maternity care in England and Clarke has campaigned on the issue since making an emotional speech in the House of Commons in 2023 about her own maternity experience and also chaired an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) that made former MP for Stafford suffered severe blood loss and needed emergency surgery following a 40-hour labour to deliver her daughter, at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in 2022. She has now written a book, detailing her own harrowing experience, in a bid to help other women. Ms Clarke launched the memoir "Breaking The Taboo - Why We Need to Talk About Birth Trauma" in London on Tuesday evening. She said: "They (the government) appear to have been under the misapprehension that I would disappear when I lost my seat - that is not going to happen". 'Not enough has happened' Ms Clarke was joined at the launch by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, who conducted the independent review into the baby deaths scandal at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (Sath Inquiry) and is currently chairing an inquiry into maternity care in Ockenden, who wrote the foreword for the book, said: "Three years ago the then Secretary of State Sajid Javid agreed to implement my recommendations, but in the intervening years not enough has happened". Earlier this month, it was reported that of the £100m allocated to improve maternity care in the aftermath of the Sath Inquiry, only £2m is ring-fenced this year to be spent on maternity services, In response however, the Department of Health (DoH) said progress was being made."[This is] across a number of the recommendations from the APPG on Birth Trauma, including achieving 5.8% increase in the number of midwives," it said in a added that this week it had announced a rollout of a national NHS training programme to reduce the number of brain injuries during childbirth. After she lost her seat in 2024 General Election, Ms Clarke launched a podcast on the topic of birth trauma and interviewed campaigners and other women who had also experienced traumatic births.A number of women from across the country also feature in her book, including Molly Hunter, a mum of three, who lives in Staffordshire. 'Miscarriage is a lonely process' Ms Hunter has endured a number of missed miscarriages - a pregnancy that has failed, but the body hasn't started the process of miscarriage - and said she wanted to share her story to try and make a difference."My contribution to albeit small, shares a different angle because a lot of the book is focussing on birth trauma and for my second, third, fourth and fifth pregnancies, I had the miscarriages and never got to the stage where I was able to bring my baby home," she said."Theo is breaking the taboo, talking about the issues that so many women suffer from and I think she has done such an important job."I think going through a miscarriage is a very very lonely process."Ms Hunter hoped the book would "highlight the postcode lottery" that determined the care that women received. A survey by Mumsnet in April found that the vast majority of mothers had experienced physical or psychological birth trauma, of which 53% said they were less likely to have more children because of their experience of maternity care. 'The campaign continues' The Tory government agreed to implement the recommendations of Theo's Birth Trauma APPG report last year, however nine days later the general election was called. "In the turmoil that followed, the government let down women, three years on I'm still working, the government must listen," said Ms Ockenden. "We are all born and we are all affected by this." The DoH accepts there is more to be done. "Through our Plan for Change, we are transforming the NHS, training thousands more midwives and have set an explicit target to close the Black and Asian maternal mortality gap," it said. Ms Clarke said: "The campaign is not over and I am very unhappy that they have not adopted all of our recommendations". Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Daily Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Telegraph
Madeleine West details traumatic birth of seventh baby at 47
Don't miss out on the headlines from Celebrity Life. Followed categories will be added to My News. Can we have a little chat about birth trauma? Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but given everyone here either came from a womb or has one, it's far from irrelevant. And it's the last thing expectant parents consider when the big day – birth day – arrives. They wade into the trenches, ideal birth plan clutched to their chest, whale songs and Enya on Spotify, and a bag of barley sugars, incense and hope slung over one shoulder. My most recent birth plan was pretty matter-of-fact. Baby number seven, this was by design a no-frills affair. I'm not jaded, but I've come to respect that birth rarely goes to plan. Babies play by their own rules and our only job is getting them safely earthside. But this time, everything slid sideways in the most unexpected fashion. 'I've never felt pain on that scale.' Madeleine West has opened up about giving birth to her seventh child, in an exclusive column for Stellar. Picture: Christopher Ferguson for Stellar My baby's birth was capital T traumatic. I still choke up talking about it. But talk we must, because when things go pear-shaped – like so many scarring events we experience in life – by pretending it didn't happen, or downplaying it, we don't do ourselves any favours. Like many, I underwent a Caesarean section. Not because I'm 'too posh to push', rather because I have what my nan referred to as snake hips, and I'm too wise this late in the game to run any risks experimenting with alternatives. Yet this time the routine epidural didn't land right. As a consequence, I felt the procedure. Once a Caesar is underway, it's too late to sit a patient up and start over. The only option was to be knocked out, and I refused. I had to be present for my baby's first breath. No-one is to blame. These things do happen. I made my choice. Listen to a new episode of Something To Talk About featuring Candice Warner below: I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say I've never felt pain on that scale – which is saying something from someone who has been hit in the head by a bus. Between passing out, gritting my teeth, and dropping the odd F-bomb, I did my best to make it appear tolerable to avoid sedation. Immediately my body went into shock. Organs started to fail, and I swelled to Michelin Man proportions with extreme oedema. But my mind proved hardest to wrangle. It replayed the sensations on an endless loop, and tries to still, striving to make sense of the incomprehensible. I felt guilty. Had I somehow prompted this to happen? Did I exercise too much? Did I eat something wrong? Was it because I dared to proceed despite my 'geriatric' age? Pointless musings I know, but so was my mind screaming: 'this isn't supposed to happen!' I delivered a healthy, gorgeous bub, but my little one's arrival was tarnished by pain and an utter loss of control. 'I do believe as women and mums-to-be we are sold a myth as to how birth should be.' Picture: Christopher Ferguson for Stellar I do believe as women and mums-to-be we are sold a myth as to how birth 'should' be, thanks to the tsunami of maternity inspo clogging up our social media feeds and unrealistic, almost erotic representations of birth on our screens. As a result, if we don't achieve calm birth perfection, complete with unicorns and stardust beneath a full moon, we are left feeling we have somehow failed. But sometimes birthing goes wrong. More often than not it will deviate from your plan, and some of us come out on the other side and promptly chuck the whale song soundtrack, the 'calm birth' guide and any illusions about what constitutes a perfect birth in the bin. What lingers is the shame. And that lasts longer than scars and cracked nipples. If you achieved the perfect water birth, a seamless transition to breastfeeding, your bub sleeping through the night by six weeks old, and sliding back into your skinny jeans after three months – then go you! Amazing. But if you didn't, does than make your experience of birth or early motherhood any less valid? All too often we mums feel it does. Hence we avoid the topic, confess our experience with eyes downcast, or pretend it was different to how it actually played out. Is it any wonder post-natal depression is such an issue? I'm an old fart now and it's not my first rodeo, but in my opinion birth trauma is not discussed nearly enough. So many of us are carrying around scars both physical and psychological precisely because we never took the time to treat the wound. When the prevailing advice from our nearest and dearest is 'she'll be right', it's hard to open up about how we really feel. Also, when sharing your story is met with overblown rhetoric like: 'I was shearing the sheep when my waters broke, but I kept at it, went home to whip up a roast, slapped on some lippy and delivered in the bathtub.' Urban legends never reassure anyone, they just add to the sense of failure. Bringing babies into the world is not a competitive sport. No one does it best, we just do it, as we have since the dawn of mankind. I hope more of us can learn to own our unique experience with pride. No matter what the outcome or how far it veered off our desired course, the act of giving birth is still one of the riskiest, most arduous, thrilling and indescribable undertakings the human body will ever endure. What a miracle to play our part in the timeless cycle of ushering in new life. Why judge a journey by the means we got there, when all that matters is that we arrive? Why am I speaking out? Because sharing my story hurts a little less every time I do. I'll never say, 'I wouldn't change a thing.' But when I step back and see the whole picture – a dramatic final act in an otherwise uneventful pregnancy – I choose instead to be grateful. As my organs heal, the swelling subsides, and the physical pain fades, I remind myself what it brought me: my beautiful little one, sleeping peacefully in my arms as I type. And that I wouldn't miss for the world. For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here. Find the latest issue of Stellar inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA).
News.com.au
10-05-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
‘My baby's birth was capital T traumatic': Madeleine West says she ‘felt her C-section'
Can we have a little chat about birth trauma? Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but given everyone here either came from a womb or has one, it's far from irrelevant. And it's the last thing expectant parents consider when the big day – birth day – arrives. They wade into the trenches, ideal birth plan clutched to their chest, whale songs and Enya on Spotify, and a bag of barley sugars, incense and hope slung over one shoulder. My most recent birth plan was pretty matter-of-fact. Baby number seven, this was by design a no-frills affair. I'm not jaded, but I've come to respect that birth rarely goes to plan. Babies play by their own rules and our only job is getting them safely earthside. But this time, everything slid sideways in the most unexpected fashion. My baby's birth was capital T traumatic. I still choke up talking about it. But talk we must, because when things go pear-shaped – like so many scarring events we experience in life – by pretending it didn't happen, or downplaying it, we don't do ourselves any favours. Like many, I underwent a Caesarean section. Not because I'm 'too posh to push', rather because I have what my nan referred to as snake hips, and I'm too wise this late in the game to run any risks experimenting with alternatives. Yet this time the routine epidural didn't land right. As a consequence, I felt the procedure. Once a Caesar is underway, it's too late to sit a patient up and start over. The only option was to be knocked out, and I refused. I had to be present for my baby's first breath. No-one is to blame. These things do happen. I made my choice. I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say I've never felt pain on that scale – which is saying something from someone who has been hit in the head by a bus. Between passing out, gritting my teeth, and dropping the odd F-bomb, I did my best to make it appear tolerable to avoid sedation. Immediately my body went into shock. Organs started to fail, and I swelled to Michelin Man proportions with extreme oedema. But my mind proved hardest to wrangle. It replayed the sensations on an endless loop, and tries to still, striving to make sense of the incomprehensible. I felt guilty. Had I somehow prompted this to happen? Did I exercise too much? Did I eat something wrong? Was it because I dared to proceed despite my 'geriatric' age? Pointless musings I know, but so was my mind screaming: 'this isn't supposed to happen!' I delivered a healthy, gorgeous bub, but my little one's arrival was tarnished by pain and an utter loss of control. I do believe as women and mums-to-be we are sold a myth as to how birth 'should' be, thanks to the tsunami of maternity inspo clogging up our social media feeds and unrealistic, almost erotic representations of birth on our screens. As a result, if we don't achieve calm birth perfection, complete with unicorns and stardust beneath a full moon, we are left feeling we have somehow failed. But sometimes birthing goes wrong. More often than not it will deviate from your plan, and some of us come out on the other side and promptly chuck the whale song soundtrack, the 'calm birth' guide and any illusions about what constitutes a perfect birth in the bin. What lingers is the shame. And that lasts longer than scars and cracked nipples. If you achieved the perfect water birth, a seamless transition to breastfeeding, your bub sleeping through the night by six weeks old, and sliding back into your skinny jeans after three months – then go you! Amazing. But if you didn't, does than make your experience of birth or early motherhood any less valid? All too often we mums feel it does. Hence we avoid the topic, confess our experience with eyes downcast, or pretend it was different to how it actually played out. Is it any wonder post-natal depression is such an issue? I'm an old fart now and it's not my first rodeo, but in my opinion birth trauma is not discussed nearly enough. So many of us are carrying around scars both physical and psychological precisely because we never took the time to treat the wound. When the prevailing advice from our nearest and dearest is 'she'll be right', it's hard to open up about how we really feel. Also, when sharing your story is met with overblown rhetoric like: 'I was shearing the sheep when my waters broke, but I kept at it, went home to whip up a roast, slapped on some lippy and delivered in the bathtub.' Urban legends never reassure anyone, they just add to the sense of failure. Bringing babies into the world is not a competitive sport. No one does it best, we just do it, as we have since the dawn of mankind. I hope more of us can learn to own our unique experience with pride. No matter what the outcome or how far it veered off our desired course, the act of giving birth is still one of the riskiest, most arduous, thrilling and indescribable undertakings the human body will ever endure. What a miracle to play our part in the timeless cycle of ushering in new life. Why judge a journey by the means we got there, when all that matters is that we arrive? Why am I speaking out? Because sharing my story hurts a little less every time I do. I'll never say, 'I wouldn't change a thing.' But when I step back and see the whole picture – a dramatic final act in an otherwise uneventful pregnancy – I choose instead to be grateful. As my organs heal, the swelling subsides, and the physical pain fades, I remind myself what it brought me: my beautiful little one, sleeping peacefully in my arms as I type. And that I wouldn't miss for the world.
