I found out in October 2010 I was pregnant with my second child 🙂
It was a planned pregnancy and we were over the moon when we got our positive test. At the time I was a cleaner at my daughter’s nursery. My morning sickness was all pretty standard and had gone by the time I went for my 12 week scan. The morning of the scan we travelled to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn and had the normal anxieties any expectant parents have, Â but it went well without a hitch. We had a happy baby tucked safely in my tummy.
The following weeks passed without problem. I went for my anomaly scan at 20 weeks and the Sonographer had picked up something called Echogenic Bowel, this is where on the scan the bowel is a white mass. It can be a sign of many things or nothing to worry about at all. We were referred to see a consultant who confirmed the bowel and did some closer scans of my baby. She told me my baby wasn’t in great health. There was a lot of information we were given that day most of it a blur.
I can remember possible infection being mentioned and was tested for many things. I can remember being taken into a room and sat down with my husband while the midwife went through our options. Termination being one. This was not an option for us, however. I was sent to another Norfolk hospital for a second opinion. They confirmed everything and said my baby would only have a 10% chance of surviving pregnancy and if he did he would either not survive for long or be severely brain damaged.
Again we were told to consider termination. We just didn’t know what to do. We said we wouldn’t consider termination until we had done everything in our power to find out how bad it was.
The consultant sent us to a hospital in London to have a procedure very similar to the Amniocentesis except rather than taking a sample of amniotic fluid or placenta they took a sample from baby himself. Thursday 10th March 2011 I went for my Amniocentesis (which was huge for me as I have a phobia of needles) they took the samples they needed.
Monday 14th March 2011 I had a routine midwife appointment. I said to the midwife that I hoped there was no heartbeat when she went to do the doppler. For me, it meant the decision was taken out of our hands and my baby went in his own time and his own way.
She couldn’t find a heartbeat. I broke down and begged her to try again I wanted to take back my words but I couldn’t. She found something, but she wasn’t sure if it was mine or babies just very weak. I went straight to hospital with my husband. My friend Emma was a midwife on shift and they took us into a room and a consultant scanned me and confirmed there was no heart beat, a second consultant also confirmed this.
My baby had died. In the space of just over 4 weeks, our world had fallen apart.
I decided to start the induction process that day…. I also asked my friend Emma if she would be my midwife for the delivery and she agreed and sorted it with her boss, which was amazing. Made it more personal for us.
Wednesday 16th March at 2.30pm after a 3 hour labour my son Charlie Steven Marsh was born sleeping into the world at 24 weeks and 3 days.
We spent 10 amazing hours with our Charlie, who was fully formed with fingernails and eyebrows, just very small. The hospital was fantastic, let us stay for as long as we wanted even after we said our good byes.
Tests we both had done confirmed I had Congenital CMV and parvovirus (slapped cheek) and Charlie also had CMV and parvovirus.
1 year and 10 days after Charlie’s birth we welcomed his baby sister into the world on 26th March 2012. She is a blessing that I thank Charlie for every single day.
Written by mum Kayleigh
