TRIGGER WARNING: This post contains information about stillbirth and infant loss, which may be triggering to some.
A mom in Wales is telling her story after her 3-day-old son died. The mom, who is named Eve, says her son, Sonny Taylor, died due to hospital staff not properly doing their jobs. Her pregnancy had been basically healthy, so when her water broke at 36 weeks, she didn’t think there’d be any problems. But as we all know, anything can happen, and things can change in an instant when you’re pregnant. One crucial misstep on the part of the hospital created a domino effect of bad things. And if even one thing had been done differently, they may have been able to save her baby’s life.
Eve was admitted to Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital on September 29, 2022, Surrey Live reported. When she arrived, her unborn son’s heart rate was reported as normal. She was later moved to the maternity ward when a potential infection was discovered.
When she was observed at 6 p.m., both her and Sonny’s heart rates were reported as normal. Another monitoring should have taken place at 10 p.m., but it wasn’t because the 29-year-old mom was asleep. That proved to be a fatal mistake.
She woke up around 1:30 a.m. September 30, concerned about a lack of movement in her belly. A registrar was called, and it was established that Sonny had an abnormal heart rate. Eve was then wrongly transferred to the labor ward, where an emergency C-section was ordered.
“When I awoke Sonny wasn’t moving as much and I immediately knew something wasn’t right. What followed was frantic, chaotic, and terrifying,” Eve said, per Surrey Live. “I went to sleep at my emergency C-section not knowing if I would wake up or whether my baby would make it.”
Sonny Taylor was delivered at 2:03 a.m. September 30. He died the evening of October 2, 2022.
An investigation through NHS Wales found that a midwife should have woken up Eve for that 10 p.m. observation, Surrey Live reported. She also should have been taken directly into the operating room after the abnormal heart rate was discovered.
Testing of the umbilical cord showed Sonny “had been distressed for a significant amount of time.”
“The day Sonny was born should have been one of the happiest of our lives, but it turned to absolute despair. I don’t think we’ll ever get over leaving hospital and not taking Sonny with us to start a new chapter in our family together,” her husband, Thomas, shared.
Betsi Cadwaladr of the University Health Board accepted the investigation’s findings, apologizing “unreservedly” for the hospital’s failures, the BBC reported. The board paid the family an undisclosed settlement sum.
The health board said it instituted changes to prevent what happened to Sonny Taylor from happening with other families.
“We know that no actions can undo what has happened, but we are determined to learn from this case and to continue improving the safety and quality of maternity care for all families across north Wales,” the board’s statement added, per the BBC.
