Liam Searle

Every part of my pregnancy was normal and routine, and there was never anything to indicate that there was going to be a problem. At my 33 week check up my obstetrician asked, as always, if I was feeling lots of movement. And, as always, I told him I was. That was the end of the discussion.

Four days later, after a busy Sunday, I realised I hadn’t felt Liam move for a while. I’d had a pretty busy day and sometimes he just liked to sleep, so I decided to just keep an eye on it. The next morning I vomited, but after 20 weeks of morning sickness I put it down to hormones. Nevertheless I called my obstetrician’s office and made an appointment to see his midwife that afternoon. Liam’s movements had increased during the day and I almost cancelled at the last minute, but decided to just put my mind at ease.

As soon as the midwife put the doppler on my stomach there was Liam’s heartbeat – strong and regular. It was just as I was about to leave that I mentioned in a off-hand remark that I’d been sick that morning, so the midwife decided to check my blood pressure. Instantly she knew something was wrong and I was sent to hospital for blood tests and monitoring. It quickly became apparent that things were much more serious – I had developed preeclampsia and my placenta was dying. Liam was born four hours after the appointment with my midwife.

My obstetrician decided to perform an emergency caesarean before my body made Liam sick. We don’t know what would have happened if I had waited. We may have lost him. All I know is that because I was more conscious about monitoring fetal movement, I pushed through feeling embarrassed about being judged as being neurotic.
I just wanted you to know that it’s made a difference to a least one baby.

Written by Liam’s Mother, Sarah