Latest news with #emergencycaesarean
ABC News
3 days ago
- Health
- ABC News
Inquest begins into Baby R's death at Bendigo Health after planned home birth
A coroner's court has heard a mother whose baby died after a home birth in central Victoria, did not want to deliver at a local hospital after facing a traumatic first birth in 2019. Baby R, as the infant is being referred to during the coronial inquest, died from perinatal hypoxia in August 2022 after an emergency caesarean at Bendigo Health. The parents of Baby R, who cannot be identified, read statements to the court in Melbourne today on day one of the inquest. The court heard the baby boy's parents initially assumed they would be unable to have a home birth as their first child was born by emergency caesarean in 2019. However two different doctors referred Baby R's mother to private midwives as part of her options for her second birth. Baby R's mother described a "what if" moment during the home birth, when she noticed meconium liquor as she moved from her bedroom to the lounge room. Meconium liquor is waste usually passed by a baby after birth. In her statement to the court, the mother recalled saying "oh f***", and assumed she would be on her way to hospital. "I remember [the midwife] Mary Louise just saying, 'We'll monitor you more closely'," the mother said in her statement. The baby's mother was herself a registered midwife and had worked as both a nurse and midwife before leaving healthcare following a difficult first birth. The statement from Baby R's father painted the home birth as "calm", before he and the baby's mother made the decision to quickly go to Bendigo Health after complications arose. A midwife called ahead to the hospital to prepare. "When they came to me they said she was having a caesar. I thought 'Oh, here we go again," Baby R's father said. He said after the birth, the baby "wasn't breathing, wasn't squawking". "They took him straight to [paediatrics]," he said. The court also heard Baby R's mother declined an appointment with an obstetrician prior to the birth. She said it felt like an administrative call and questioned why it would be necessary, as no health care providers had flagged the need for an obstetrician consult pre-birth. "It felt like a box ticking exercise," her statement said. Counsel assisting told the court a consultant obstetrician at Bendigo Health assessed Baby R's mother as "high risk" after reviewing her file following the birth. GP Dr Veronica Moule had a 12-week prenatal consultation with Baby R's mother in 2022 and gave evidence on Monday. The court heard Dr Moule was not made aware the mother had a postpartum haemorrhage following her first birth. "I did not receive a discharge summary from Bendigo Health after that; that's where the information would've been written," Dr Moule said. Dr Moule said had she known, she may not have said Baby R's mother was a suitable candidate for a vaginal home birth. "The outcome was tragic," she said. When questioned if it was possible to make an informed decision without a consultation with an obstetrician pre-birth, Dr Moule said "possibly not." Coroner Dimitra Dubrow indicated on Monday morning both midwives involved in Baby R's birth would object to giving evidence in the coronial inquest. The court heard the midwives, Marie-Louise Lapeyre and Elizabeth Murphy, were concerned the evidence may expose them to civil liability. Following investigations by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the Nursing and Midwifery Board, both Ms Murphy and Ms Lapeyre have been told they cannot practise as private midwives, along with other conditions. The inquest will continue tomorrow.
The Guardian
17-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘We'd never heard of it': a woman tells of daughter's death from mitochondrial disease
When I had my 20-week scan, Lily had a strange heartbeat. It would beat and then stop and then start beating again. The sonographer had never seen it before. I was referred by my local hospital to St George's to see a specialist and it happened again. I went back every day for a week, and then every other day for another week, but they never saw it again. I had another scan nearer Lily's due date and that time there was no blood flow between the placenta and the baby. I had to have an emergency caesarean. That was at 35 weeks. She was so tiny, 3lb 8oz, but they couldn't find anything wrong with her. After four or five weeks I was allowed to bring her home. She wasn't putting on weight. One day, when she was about seven weeks old, I was out with the kids for the day, and when I took her out of the pushchair she had stopped breathing, she was grey and foaming around the mouth. We got her to a hospital and she started breathing again. She was discharged, but a friend of mine who's a paediatric nurse advised me to take her to East Surrey hospital, where she was born and they had all her notes. We were there for 10 days while they did more tests. The doctors thought she might have a metabolic disease and blue-lighted us to the Royal Brompton to see a specialist. They agreed, but we were allowed home. We had to get a taxi back and on the way Lily stopped breathing again. I had a nurse with me who performed CPR. Lily had two cardiac arrests a couple of nights later at East Surrey and ended up at Evelina children's hospital on life support. Lily had a lumbar puncture and some more tests. They strongly suspected she had mitochondrial disease. We were told: 'I'm really sorry, there's no treatment, there's nothing we can do, Lily's going to die.' We had a muscle biopsy to confirm the diagnosis but they didn't think the result would come back before she died. Lily didn't die when they turned off life support. We took her home and she survived for six months. I used to sit up in bed with her on my tummy because I was so frightened of waking up and her not being here. I couldn't bear the thought of her being on her own. We had never heard of mitochondrial disease. After Lily died, we asked for donations instead of flowers at her funeral and there was nowhere to send them. There was no active charity dedicated to mitochondrial diseases. We thought, it's never going to change unless we do something. We just did it, we set up The Lily Foundation. We knew that in order to treat it or to find a cure, we had to be able to diagnose it properly. So we raised money for a gene-testing programme. That was a hugely successful project and it's now a routine test for mitochondrial disease. The charity has now raised more than £11m and supports more than 1,300 families and patients across the UK. Our website is full of information and we run annual meet-ups for families, for adults and for young adults. We have closed Facebook groups that bring people together. People go on there for practical advice and support as well. For parents to have an opportunity to have a baby free of these diseases that's genetically theirs, what they have done in Newcastle is not only an incredible piece of science to be celebrated, but an amazing step forward for families. It is such a tightly regulated, robust process from beginning to end, and that's something we should be extremely proud of. There will always be learning. It's a new technique and I hope it opens doors for more in the future. This is about giving families a choice when every other option has been ruled out.
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘We'd never heard of it': a woman tells of her daughter's death of mitochondrial disease
When I had my 20 week scan, Lily had a strange heartbeat. It would beat and then stop and then start beating again. The sonographer had never seen it before. I was referred by my local hospital to St George's to see a specialist and it happened again. I went back every day for a week, and then every other day for another week, but they never saw it again. I had another scan nearer Lily's due date and that time there was no blood flow between the placenta and the baby. I had to have an emergency caesarean. That was at 35 weeks. She was so tiny, 3lb 8oz, but they couldn't find anything wrong with her. After four or five weeks I was allowed to bring her home. She wasn't putting on weight. One day, when she was about seven weeks old, I was out with the kids for the day, and when I took her out of the pushchair she had stopped breathing, she was grey and foaming around the mouth. We got her to a hospital and she started breathing again. She was discharged, but a friend of mine who's a paediatric nurse advised me to take her to East Surrey hospital, where she was born and they had all her notes. We were there for 10 days while they did more tests. The doctors thought she might have a metabolic disease and blue-lighted us to the Royal Brompton to see a specialist. They agreed, but we were allowed home. We had to get a taxi back and on the way Lily stopped breathing again. I had a nurse with me who performed CPR. Lily had two cardiac arrests a couple of nights later at East Surrey and ended up at Evelina children's hospital on life support. Lily had a lumbar puncture and some more tests. They strongly suspected she had mitochondrial disease. We were told: 'I'm really sorry, there's no treatment, there's nothing we can do, Lily's going to die.' We had a muscle biopsy to confirm the diagnosis but they didn't think the result would come back before she died. Lily didn't die when they turned off life support. We took her home and she survived for six months. I used to sit up in bed with her on my tummy because I was so frightened of waking up and her not being here. I couldn't bear the thought of her being on her own. We had never heard of mitochondrial disease. After Lily died, we asked for donations instead of flowers at her funeral and there was nowhere to send them. There was no active charity dedicated to mitochondrial diseases. We thought, it's never going to change unless we do something. We just did it, we set up The Lily Foundation. We knew that in order to treat it or to find a cure, we had to be able to diagnose it properly. So we raised money for a gene-testing programme. That was a hugely successful project and it's now a routine test for mitochondrial disease. The charity has now raised more than £11m and supports more than 1,300 families and patients across the UK. Our website is full of information and we run annual meet-ups for families, for adults and for young adults. We have closed Facebook groups that bring people together. People go on there for practical advice and support as well. For parents to have an opportunity to have a baby free of these diseases that's genetically theirs, what they have done in Newcastle is not only an incredible piece of science to be celebrated, but an amazing step forward for families. It is such a tightly regulated, robust process from beginning to end, and that's something we should be extremely proud of. There will always be learning. It's a new technique and I hope it opens doors for more in the future. This is about giving families a choice when every other option has been ruled out.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Call The Midwife star Jennifer Kirby gives birth to first child via emergency caesarean section with Killing Eve actor Robert Gilbert
Call The Midwife star Jennifer Kirby has revealed she has given birth to her first child via emergency caesarean section. And the star, 36, has described having 'panic attacks' in recent months while navigating motherhood for the first time. The actress, who played Nurse Valerie Dyer in the hit BBC period drama for four seasons, shared the news on Sunday evening alongside a selfie showing the scar from her C-section. Posting the candid photo on Instagram, Jennifer wrote: 'One emergency caesarean, many crying sessions, a few panic attacks, infinite love, one glorious little baby, and one whole year.' She thanked her husband, Killing Eve star Robert Gilbert, and added: 'Thank you little body for all you've endured and all you've done. 'I won't take you for granted again.' Fans praised her honesty and strength in sharing the photo, with many admiring her openness about the realities of childbirth Jennifer and Robert, 37, met when they both starred in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Henry V in 2015. After tying the knot last year, the couple welcomed their first child at Christmas but kept the news out of the spotlight - making her new post a surprise to many fans. Her former Call The Midwife co-star Nell Hudson, who is nine months pregnant, commented with a string of heart emojis and clapping hands, while The Crown actress Yolanda Kettle added red heart emojis. Robert commented cheekily: 'Don't try it lads SHE'S MARRIED.' Fans praised her honesty and strength in sharing the photo, with many admiring her openness about the realities of childbirth. 'Nurse Valerie would have been proud of you,' one fan wrote. Another commented: 'Beautiful lady. I have a similar scar too from my C-section with my second. Just amazes me how utterly fabulous our bodies are.' Jennifer played Nurse Valerie Dyer on Call The Midwife from 2017 until 2020, appearing in some of the show's most emotionally charged storylines - including several scenes involving complex labour and delivery. She left the award-winning period drama after four seasons, telling fans she was 'proud' to have been part of the show but felt it was time to 'move on' She left the award-winning period drama after four seasons, telling fans she was 'proud' to have been part of the show but felt it was time to 'move on'. Since then, she has largely kept her personal life out of the spotlight, although she has made several stage and screen appearances. Robert has enjoyed a steady rise through in recent years. In Killing Eve, he appeared in the final season as tech genius Yusuf, helping Jodie Comer's Villanelle and Sandra Oh's Eve on their mission. He has also appeared in Channel 4 comedy Big Mood with Irish actress Nicola Coughlan and the crime series Bergerac.
