Tragic baby's mum 'made to feel she was being over-dramatic'

MOTHER TELLS INQUEST OF REPEATED VISITS AND PHONE CALLS TO MATERNITY UNIT

- JOHN SCHEERHOUT

 

A MUM whose first baby lived for just one day following a normal pregnancy told an inquest she was made to feel she was being 'over-dramatic' during repeated calls and visits to a hospital maternity unit when she went into labour.

Nicole Ditchfield's son Luca died following a severe brain injury, which the family blame on a lack of oxygen before birth and alleged poor attempts at resuscitation.

An inquest into the tragedy heard that twice Nicole visited the maternity unit but was told to go home and that, as her contractions grew stronger, she started being sick and complained of bleeding, she made 13 unanswered phone calls to the unit.

On her third visit to the unit, midwives struggled to detect a heartbeat and Luca was delivered following an emergency Caesarean section.

The infant was left with a severe brain damage due to a lack of oxygen and his devastated parents took the heartbreaking decision to withdraw him from life support. He died on January 24, 2022, in the maternity unit of Tameside General Hospital, the day after his birth.

Miss Ditchfield, a business administrator from Ashton-under-Lyne, first attended the maternity unit on May 30, 2021, with her partner and father of the unborn child, Jack Yates, and the pregnancy 'progressed normally' apart from the mum catching Covid in December, although she recovered.

The parents told Stockport Coroners Court they had a 'reassuring' visit to the maternity unit on January 7 when a scan showed Luca, then at 39 weeks gestation, was 'moving well' and the unborn infant was said to weigh 7lbs and loz.

The pregnant mum called the unit on January 12 when she spotted 'light pink spotting' and she was told to get back in touch if it got any worse.