Harriet – who was the first baby for Jack and Sarah Hawkins – was born dead at Nottingham City Hospital on 17th April 2016. Had she been born alive, she would be approaching her 4th birthday and just have welcomed the arrival of a new baby sister
Last year, Jack and Sarah were brave enough to allow a BBC camera crew to film their pregnancy/birth to highlight the devastating impact that stillbirths arising from clinical negligence can have on parents who go on to have another baby. The programme is being aired on BBC Inside Out (East Midlands) on Monday 27th January at 7.30pm.
The couple want to share their experience, by conducting media interviews, and continue to shine a spotlight on the devastating impact of stillbirth.
Baby Harriet
Jack and Sarah have given several national media interviews since Harriet’s death, many of them can be seen here. They have campaigned to change Inquest laws to enable Coroners to investigate full-term stillbirths and added their voice to the ongoing debate as to whether medical practitioners are routinely adhering to their professional duty of candour and being open with parents when things go wrong.
It took 2 years for Nottingham University Hospital Trust (NUH) to admit gross negligence. This was only after the publication of a Root Cause Analysis Investigation Report (dated 11/12/2017) into Harriet’s death had identified 13 significant care and service delivery problems and concluded that Harriet’s death was “almost certainly preventable”.
The couple had to fight every step of the way for this investigation to be carried out, having identified at the outset that the hospitals explanation for Harriet’s death as “an infection”, was untrue and hid the appalling catalogue of failures by the medical and midwifery staff caring for Sarah as well as the “lack of midwifery leadership” and “poor safety culture” within the Trust.
Baby Lottie
Lottie was born on 22nd November 2019 at the Lindo Wing Maternity Hospital in London. The emotional and practical impact of Harriet’s death on Jack and Sarah throughout the pregnancy and at the birth has been huge.
Pregnancy
Practically, the couple had to undergo IVF due to secondary infertility. Sarah found it difficult being in a hospital setting for the required egg collection, even down to the fact that she was unable to wear a hospital gown for the procedure. Having lost faith in the NHS (previously they had been staunch advocates), the couple opted for private midwifery and obstetric care and moved to London to have Lottie delivered at the Lindo Wing, where they felt they would receive the “best possible care.”
They sought multiple extra scans and appointments with their midwife and obstetric consultant in order to try and quash concerns and their anxiety around the birth. Emotionally, it has been (and continues to be) difficult. As part of their IVF, two embryos were implanted and initially both heartbeats were seen at the viability scan, however they then lost one at 9 weeks. The couple experienced sadness at that, which then heightened their anxiety over the remaining baby.
Throughout the pregnancy both Jack and Sarah have needed psychology and psychiatric help to deal with the “terrors” of pregnancy and lack of control surrounding it. They had trouble bonding with Lottie during the pregnancy, referring to her (they didn’t find out the sex of the baby) as “it” or “the foetus” to help form a protective barrier in case something happened. There were weekly checks to ensure there was still a heartbeat, and multiple attendances to hospital for CTG as they were repeatedly convinced that Sarah was carrying a “dead baby”. Sadly, they were unable to properly plan for Lottie’s arrival, and had no clothes or a nursery for her, “just in case something went wrong.”
Birth
It was necessary for them to see a psychologist to explore the birth plan and they opted for a caesarean over a vaginal delivery so as not to relive the ‘Harriet experience’. A caesarean delivery was planned for Monday 25th November however Sarah went into labour on Friday 22nd November, triggering severe anxiety at every contraction about the baby dying, despite being closely monitored. Sarah suffered flashbacks during the birth and was “obsessed with monitor readings and heart rate.”
Post-natal
One of the most difficult things has been that Lottie looks like Harriet. The couple watch over Lottie constantly, fearful that she might die. Sarah is now receiving support from CONI (Care of Next Infant Scheme) around her concerns about Lottie’s health and wellbeing.
