I watched my baby die FIVE TIMES – she was born premature weighing 1lb 6oz after I fell pregnant on the coil
A MUM who fell pregnant on the coil has revealed how she watched her baby daughter die five times after the device caused her to give birth when her waters broke at 24 weeks.
Sammi Love had an IUD (intrauterine contraceptive device) fitted four months before conceiving little Eidy - who was born weighing just 1lb 6oz at 25 weeks.
The mum-of-four, from Stoke-on-Trent, was gobsmacked when she discovered she was expecting with her partner of two years, Carl Riley, 35.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous Digital, she said: "Eidy's a coil baby, I wasn't expecting her. I only did a pregnancy test because I was feeling unwell, I was sick and tired.
"I thought that was the first thing the GP would ask me, even though it was next to impossible.
"When the test came up positive, I was more than a little bit shocked. I was about six weeks' pregnant.
"Eidy is my fourth and final baby. But we decided if she could beat the coil, she was obviously meant to be."
Sammi was already mum to Ryan, 13, Zakk, nine, and Ebon, eight, with her ex-husband.
The former waitress, who worked in a tea room until Eidy came home from hospital, was told her due date was May 25 this year - but ended up giving birth on February 12.
She said: "Because the coil was so close to her, there was a risk taking it out could cause miscarriage.
"The pregnancy was absolutely awful. I was really sick and had to be off work for six weeks at one point.
"I only stopped being sick at 23 weeks, then my waters broke at 24. The coil had ruptured the membrane (pricked the amniotic sack).
"I was at home when it happened, I'd been at work during the day and my sister came round for tea with the kids, which was homemade soup.
Eidy is my fourth and final baby. But we decided if she could beat the coil, she was obviously meant to be
Sammi Love
"She left about 7.30pm and I had backache so I sat down on the sofa, then I said 'Karl, I can't get up'. I thought I'd wet myself at first.
"I had C-sections with all the boys because I've had a hip replacement, so I rang my sister and said 'what's it like when your waters break?' but she'd had a C-section too.
"I rang my mum, who said to call the hospital, and they told me to put a pad on and lie on my left-hand side for half an hour.
"But it was obvious by then my waters had broken, so I went straight into Royal Stoke Hospital.
"We went to the Medical Assessment Unit and, as I was having an internal examination, the doctor asked the nurse if my baby was alive. Luckily she was fine."
There weren't any beds for Sammi at Royal Stoke, so she was transferred to Birmingham Heartlands.
The mum arrived in Birmingham at 6am on Friday February 8 and was put on bed rest.
She said: "By the Monday morning, I was crying saying ‘I’ve had enough of this now’. You can carry to full term even with no waters, I wanted to go and see my boys.
"I was miles away from home so I wasn’t getting any visitors although Carl stayed with me, he works at a builders' merchant but they were really good about it.
I only stopped being sick at 23 weeks, then my waters broke at 24. The coil had ruptured the membrane
Sammi Love
"At 11.30am that day, I started getting contractions. They didn't think I was in labour as I wasn't dilating, they said my uterus was just stressed.
"At 3am on Tuesday, I asked the nurse for some pain relief and she said to wait for the doctor's ward round at 6am. I had Eidy at 6.05.
"Carl was asleep on the chair but I woke him and said 'you need to help me get my leggings off', then 'go get the midwife'.
"By the time they came back into the room, I had Eidy in my hands. She was very impatient. I'd gone from not dilating at all, to having a baby on the bed in the ward.
"The coil came out with her. The midwife picked it up and said 'do you want this?' I said 'I never want to see that again in my life'."
Sammi added: "She was the same size as my Samsung S10 phone, she was tiny. They don’t measure premmies anymore, but they estimated her at 10.5 inches.
"She came out crying, which was a good sign, then they took her down to intensive care for an assessment.
"It was six hours before we got to see her, it was very surreal.
Even now I'm numb to it until I think 'my baby could have been dead'. We were initially told her survival rate was just 15%
Sammi Love
"Even now I'm numb to it until I think 'my baby could have been dead'. If she wasn't over a certain weight or hadn't shown signs of life, they wouldn't have intervened.
"We were initially told her survival rate was just 15 per cent. When she came out, she looked great and was breathing on her own, but within 48 hours she'd had a drop.
"She also got sepsis at seven days old, and we were questioned about what we wanted to do.";
At two-and-a-half weeks, Eidy was transferred back to Stoke, where she had another near-death experience.
Sammi said: "She had what I call a code blue. Her heartbeat dropped to four beats a minute. All I could think was 'if she dies, she's going to want her mum'.
"Eidy was re-ventilated five times in total. She was really good with apnoea,that was her party trick.
"She’d get sent into the final room at special care, then she’d go blue and end up back in intensive care, because she’d have to be resuscitated.
"I've watched her die five times, I wasn't there for the others. It was about a dozen times in total.
I've watched her die five times, but it was about a dozen times in total
Sammi Love
"One day, I had a phone call from my friend who works at the hospital, who said ‘I’m doing her discharge letter’.
"I’ll never forget it, it was a Thursday at 1.30pm, I was at work and in the next breath she said ‘I’m going to have to go, I’ll ring you back’. Then she put the phone down.
"My heart sank, I thought ‘that’s Eidy’. She’d stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated. It took them 15 minutes to bring her back round that time.
"When I arrived, I had to walk straight back into room one, intensive care.
"That moving of the rooms is such a massive deal when you’re in that situation. To go back to where you started is gutting."
During her hospital stay, Eidy had nine blood transfusions and was monitored for a small hole in her heart and three bleeds on her brain.
Sammi said: "I did feel helpless. I expressed milk until Eidy was four months old, but after that I felt like everyone else was looking after my baby.
"I didn't feel like her mum, I felt like she was someone else's baby and I was going to visit.
"I was there as much as I could be, 10 hours-a-day sometimes, but I had to ask to give her a bath or get her dressed."
GETTING PREGNANT ON THE COIL
IUD coils are more than 99% effective - meaning it's very rare, but possible, to get pregnant while using one.
All IUDs — hormonal, non-hormonal, or copper — have a similar failure rate.
If your IUD fails and you fall pregnant, early symptoms include:
- Missed periods
- Nausea, possibly with vomiting
- Sore, enlarged breasts
- Tiredness
- Mild cramps
- Light spotting
If you are pregnant, you should aim to have the IUD removed within the first trimester, regardless of whether you plan to keep or terminate your pregnancy.
Getting pregnant on an IUD increases your risk of:
- Ectopic pregnancy (where the embryo implants outside your uterus)
- Miscarriage
- Premature delivery
- Premature breaking of the amniotic sac
- Pelvic infection
- Low birth weight in your baby
Eidy, who will be nine months old next week, now feeds through a peg fed into her stomach - because she's developed oral aversion from being ventilated.
Sammi said: "She was in hospital for 128 days, 19 weeks, and was on a ventilator for seven weeks.
"It was awful, now I look back on it. At the time, you're numb and living in the moment.
"You can't think about it too much, because it can break you. You’ve got to be OK for your baby.
"Everything can change so fast with a premature baby. They can be fine in the morning and fighting for their life by the evening."
She’s a blessing, I’ve got a little miracle living in my house
Sammi Love
Eidy came home for four weeks on June 19, but ended up back in hospital for 10 weeks with her feeding issues.
Sammi said: "She only came out properly four weeks ago. She's still tiny, she was weighed last week and she was only 12lb 12oz. She wears 0-3 month clothes.
"There was the financial impact too, it was costing us an extra £360-a-month for her to be in hospital, and it's only a mile down the road.
"It's the parking and food while you're there, then you've got the stress of not being with your family.
"I think it's affected my kids more than me. When Ebon came to visit Eidy in Birmingham, he was absolutely petrified. He was only seven at the time."
Eidy has weakness in her legs and still sometimes experiences apnoea, but she's improving every day.
Sammi said: "She’s a blessing, I’ve got a little miracle living in my house.
"I know my child wasn’t supposed to be here, we could have been burying her, she wasn’t ready to be born. But she’s faced everything and she’s nailed it.
"She’s been amazing, we’ve been really lucky. I know there have been babies who were born at the same time as Eidy who ended up in a much worse places.
"I think it's important people are more aware - people think it's OK to put their hands in my pram or kiss her, but a kiss to a premmie baby can potentially kill them."
At the weekend, Sky Sports presenter Hayley McQueen embraced her ‘puffy belly and stretch marks’ in a candid post-baby snap.