Emma, mum to Oliver, says,
“I’m not entirely sure where to begin. We discovered we were pregnant in December 2018, shortly after our wedding in October. We were thrilled to tell our parents on Christmas Day and had an uncomplicated pregnancy.
I vaguely recall reading a small section about GBS in one of many booklets given to me at the booking-in session. It was never mentioned again, nor did I read it anywhere else.
My blood pressure was raised at my 38-week midwife appointment, so I was admitted to antenatal for monitoring. It was decided that I would be induced the next day, which started Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday afternoon, I was transferred to the labour ward, and my waters broken at 6 pm.
Sometime after, my temperature rose, I then had IV antibiotics, but no concerns were raised. I was given an epidural during the early hours of the morning and felt quite relaxed. There were briefly some concerns about the baby’s heart rate dropping after contractions, something called bradycardia (slow heart rate).
Eventually, by 11.30-12 on Friday, I was sufficiently dilated to push, and Oliver was born. He was very limp and pale. The midwives tried to encourage him to breathe but had no joy. Very quickly, lots of people entered the room and took him to the side cot to try to open his airways.
I convinced myself that it would be like I’d seen on Call the Midwife, and they’d get him to breathe, and he’d spend time in SCBU. I knew that wasn’t going to happen when the consultant stood in front of me. That moment is forever etched in my head, and in an instant, I can be back in that delivery room, and that feeling washes over me.
Oliver was pronounced dead at 1.43 pm and I didn’t know what to do. Scream, cry, shout. Nothing was going to change it. Even though it felt like I was watching it all from above, it couldn’t be real. Oliver was brought back into us as I was being stitched up, and we sat in silence and shock.
We then made the worst phone calls to tell our parents and best friends, although we had nothing to say as we couldn’t explain how this had happened. Group B Strep infection was later confirmed during his post-mortem.”
