Charlotte Ravenhall
England, UK

I already had 3 boys Josh 10, Reece was 7 and Harley was 2, so finding out I was pregnant again with my 4th baby was a big shock. It took me a while to come to terms of having another child as it was hard work looking after my other 3 boys on my own. It was the day of my 20 week scan and they told me it was another boy and that he was healthy, that’s when I felt a sudden urge of love for my baby and began to enjoy the pregnancy.
I had already suffered 2 miscarriages so I was a little worried and just wanted my baby boy in my arms. I had developed S P D and ended up on crutches as I was in so much pain with my pelvis.

Finally the day arrived, I was sat watching TV when my waters broke, so I phoned the hospital and they told me to come straight in as I needed intravenous antibiotics because I also had strep b and it could pass through to the baby. At 8am the following day I hadn’t progressed so the midwife decided to start me off so she set up another drip to speed things up as they needed to get baby Louie out quickly because of the strep b.

Finally 2hrs later I’m pushing my baby Louie into the big wide world. It was such a relief to hear him cry and I couldn’t wait to get him home so his brother could meet him. As I looked over at the midwife cleaning him up she looked concerned. I asked her if he was ok but she said we need to take him to the neonatal unit to get looked at by a doctor. I managed to catch a glimpse of him as she rushed past me and he looked purple. I kept thinking maybe he’s that colour because of all the raspberry leaf tea I drank lol, not knowing what was wrong with him. My partner at the time went with them and I was left in bed on my own worried sick. Eventually another midwife came in the room and helped me into the bath; all I wanted to do was to hold my baby.

I was wheeled up to the ward and a member of staff said they would wheel  me to the neonatal unit. As I was wheeled up to the incubator I burst into tears, he was covered in a purpuric rash from head to toe and bruising all over him. A doctor was with him at the time and said he needed an urgent brain scan as they were worried he might have had an intracranial bleed. Everything the doctor was saying was just a blur nothing sank in, I just couldn’t stop crying. Bloods were taken from Louie and his platelet count was only 4000. He was given one platelet transfusion and two doses of intravenous immunoglobulin with a good response. Blood was then taken from myself and my partner and it came back that I was Hpa 1b1b. Louie’s platelet count slowly came back up and was getting better but then developed jaundice so had to go under the ultra violet lights. He had to stay in for 8 days and was finally allowed home.

His brothers couldn’t wait to meet him because they weren’t allowed to see him in the neonatal unit. He had a follow up appointment two weeks later and they were happy to discharge him. Louie is now a happy two year old with no health problems. I suffered from postnatal depression for a long time as I blamed myself for what had happened to Louie. I know now that I wasn’t to blame and just wish I had found out about nait sooner. Louie is very lucky to be here but sadly other baby’s don’t make and I just pray that one day they will test every pregnant women against this horrible disease.

Charlotte