My daughter Heidi was born on 28 December 2020 at 6:57am, one day before her due date. I had suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG, excessive nausea and vomiting), throughout my pregnancy and had regular growth scans all of which confirmed a healthy baby.
There was meconium in my waters and the midwife requested an ambulance transfer from the birthing unit to another hospital, where there were doctors who would be able to help.
However, the ambulance was cancelled as they were only able to accept life-threatening incidents. After Heidi’s birth concerns grew around her lack of interest in feeding - she was also vomiting, and very lethargic.
She soon developed a rash across her body and kept bringing up mucous. An ambulance was called twice more and each time cancelled as we still didn’t qualify as urgent enough.
Our midwife contacted the A&E department at the hospital we were at, but they said they were unable to help her because Heidi needed specialist neonatal care and there were no paediatricians currently on shift to provide an assessment.
24 hours after I gave birth, a doctor came to see Heidi on the unit and this was when sepsis was first mentioned. The doctor said our baby was very poorly and we needed to get her to a hospital 40 minutes away immediately.
She explained that we still wouldn’t be able to get an ambulance transfer and that we would have to get her there ourselves. It was terrifying driving her there - I was so worried she would bring up mucous and choke again or vomit. This time there were no emergency alarms, midwives or resuscitation to help save her if we needed it.
