A first time mother from Wigan who was mistakenly told her baby was dead after enduring a 15 hour labour felt ‘something could have be done’ to prevent his death, an inquest heard.
Victoria Weaving-Shorrocks, 33, gave birth to son Luke at Wigan Infirmary after only being offered a caesarean section SEVEN hours after attempting to deliver naturally.
Eventually born weak and barely breathing, staff battled to revive him for 20 minutes before telling Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks ‘unfortunately there was nothing we could do’.
Yet around 36 minutes after his birth, Luke took a ‘couple of breaths’ to the shock of staff and was rushed into intensive care.
He was kept in hospital for a further five weeks before being sent home by doctors – to the surprise of his parents.
However, remaining poorly and being fed through a tube he was rushed back into hospital on August 14 where he was pronounced dead, three months after being born.
HEART BROKEN: Parents of Luke, Mr and Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks
At an inquest in Bolton, Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks, a travel firm consultant, claimed the length of the labour may have cost her son his life.
“I think labour went on incredibly long,” she said.
“I felt it should have been recognised that I had delivery problems naturally.
“After that lunchtime period I felt I was just left. It wasn’t staffing issues because I had two midwives. I wasn’t a priority, I was a first time mum having a long labour.”
Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks felt a caesarean may have saved her child’s life had she been offered it sooner.
“I feel that it may have saved my baby’s life,” she told the inquest.
“Letting me push the way I did, they couldn’t get him out. I think that maybe in hindsight I would be demanding a C-section.
“I would have asked for an earlier delivery. I felt they left me a long time. If they had to put me on a drip things weren’t going particularly normally. I just feel like something could have been done earlier.”
The tragedy occurred after Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks, who conceived Luke after fertility treatment and a normal pregnancy was admitted to Wigan Infirmary at 1am on May 17 2011 when her waters broke.
Midwives were initially happy with her progress and there was no suggestion she was at risk.
Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks told the hearing: “I was told that I was fully dilated and everything seemed to be progressing normally.
“But by 10am I never really got a really strong urge to push, if anything things seemed to be slowing down. By mid-morning contractions started to diminish and after midday I was reviewed by a consultant.
“Yet there was never any mention of there being any concerns with the baby’s heart rate. I was reassured everything was going as normal.”
Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks later had an epidural to help her push for longer but by 3pm there was still no sign of the baby and she was taken to theatre for a C-section at 4pm.
She said: “Being a first time mum you expect a longer labour and there was nothing for me to be concerned about. The midwives were so reassuring that I was heading towards a normal natural delivery.
“There was never anything to make me feel there were concerns until after 3pm. It was then I remember thinking ‘I’m sure my baby should be born by this point’. I remember the midwife saying you should have had this baby born by 9am.
”I started to think why is it taking all this time. I remember the midwife saying she was going to find someone because they had not been to check on me for some time.
A C-section had only been mentioned as a back-up but by now the atmosphere had changed and ‘there was a sense of panic on people’s faces’.
And after giving birth, Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks and her husband were told the awful news that their son had died.
“I remember lying there and Richard sat at the side of me holding my hand,” said Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks.
“I remember asking why my baby was not crying. Everybody’s faces said it all.
“Then Dr Martin Farrier said, ‘I think dad knows what I’m about to say that unfortunately there was nothing we could do’. I always remember those words.
“I was in shock. All I was thinking was ‘this was my fault, how can I not deliver him’. I was taken to recovery to try and digest the news that this baby we were having had been born with no signs of life.”
Later in the recovery room though another doctor told the couple Luke was in fact in intensive care on a ventilator and he was transferred to Hope Hospital in Salford.
“There was a lot of confusion what was actually wrong with him,” said Mrs Weaving-Shorrocks.
“His heart stopped on a couple of occasions. We were even woken up at 3am to get him christened.
“They couldn’t tell us what ability he would have, if he would have any motor skills. It was a waiting game. It was a case of taking every day as it came.”
Mr Weaving-Shorrocks, a vehicle technician, said in the moments after the birth he saw midwives in tears and added: “It went from him dying and straight into the intensive care.
“After he had died he was in recovery. The doctor told us that he had never seen it before, that the baby had taken a couple of breaths and they had resuscitated him.”
The couple were later allowed to take Luke home on June 25 but were only given a short demonstration on administering CPR if he collapsed.
Mr Weaving-Shorrocks said: “I was quite astonished Luke was sent home later when we knew very little about his condition and the way we should approach the condition.
“We only got very little resuscitation lessons and I remember saying to Vic we should know more.
Midwife Christina Lowe told the hearing that Mrs Weaving had, ‘been progressing really well’ during labour and said: “I wasn’t concerned about the foetal wellbeing. It was a long labour but it can happen with first time mums. There was no sign of an obstructive labour.”
Paediatrician Dr Martin Farrier said attempts were made to revive Luke for 20 minutes after he was born but he showed no signs of life for a further 16 minutes after that.
“I remember looking at dad and recognising absolute terror,” he told the hearing.
“I did not expect Luke to survive, I believed the outcome was inevitable.
“Babies typically die some hours later, usually 12-24 hours, it was my expectation that he would not survive.
“It was the most extraordinary moment of my career when I recognised that he was breathing. We had 36 minutes of no significant output.”
He carried on saying Luke would have suffered brain and heart damage because of the conditions he was born in.
The hearing continues.
Story via Cavendish Press
Main image courtesy of David Long, with thanks
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