'I thought I'd killed my unborn baby': Mother lost son at 31 weeks after doctors blamed symptoms of fatal condition on her having sex while pregnant

Karen Smith, 30, suffered pain and bleeding after sex at 31 weeks pregnant



Doctors told her the symptoms were normal for pregnant women

She was in fact suffering from the fatal condition placental abruption

Condition was a tragic coincidence and not related to sex, she later learnt

Experts said son could have survived had condition been spotted sooner



A mother has told how she was left terrified she had killed her baby after having sex while pregnant.



A few hours after Karen Smith had sex with her husband Mark while 31 weeks pregnant, she suffered a bleed and cramps.

Doctors initially dismissed her symptoms as normal, but hours later, she woke from emergency surgery to be told her baby had died and her womb had been removed during a hysterectomy to save her life.

Her son, Robert, weighed 4lb 8oz when he died on 4th September 2008.



Karen Smith, here with husband Mark, was left terrified she had killed her unborn baby after having sex while pregnant. She was later found to have suffered a medical complication that couldn't have been prevented

Doctors dismissed the pain Mrs Smith (with children Chelsea, Jordan and Jessica) had suffered after sex as normal, but she had in fact suffered a placental abruption, which experts have concluded should have been spotted earlier

The mother-of-three tortured herself with the thought that having sex had ended her baby’s life.

In fact, she h ad suffered a placental abruption, which experts have finally concluded should have been spotted earlier.

SEX DURING PREGNANCY

Sex during pregnancy is considered perfectly safe. In a normal pregnancy, having sex is not linked with early miscarriage.

Later in pregnancy, an orgasm or even sex itself can set off contractions (known as Braxton Hicks contractions), according to the NHS Choices website.

If this happens, the muscles of the womb (uterus) become hard.

Women who have experienced heavy bleeding in pregnancy may be advised to avoid sex, since this risks infection in the baby – especially if the waters have broken.

Those with a history of cervical weakness, a low-lying placenta or bleeding, are advised to check with their doctor or midwife first.

Mrs Smith, 30, from Plymouth, has recently accepted an undisclosed settlement from the hospital after it was proven her son could have survived if she’d been operated on sooner.

She now wants to raise awareness of placental abruption to save other parents the heartbreak of a loss.

She said: ' I tormented myself with the thought that making love had ended my baby’s life.

‘When I got to hospital bleeding they assured me all was well and it was normal to bleed after love making.



'The next thing I knew I woke to be told my son was dead and our lives torn apart. Of course I blamed myself. My husband and I were utterly distraught.

‘My friends said I'd feel better after the funeral, but I didn’t. Yes, life carried on, Mark went back to work and I took the kids to school, but then I’d spent the rest of the day just staring into space.'

Mrs Smith underwent counselling, but it failed to help.

'I couldn’t get closure. I couldn’t stop blaming myself. I tortured myself with the thought our love making had ended Robert’s life.

'Everything had been fine until then. Why hadn’t we just abstained?'

She then began wondering why staff hadn't investigated the pain she had been suffering.

A 17 week scan of baby Robert who was 4lb 8oz when he died on 4th September 2008

Medical notes confirmed baby Robert he had died due to lack of oxygen and placental abruption. Mrs Smith later realised she had been showing all the signs when she was first admitted to hospital

'I thought if the staff hadn’t been so quick to put my pain down to sex, more tests would have been carried out and perhaps both Robert and my womb would have been saved.'

It was only when she received her Robert's medical notes that she discovered he had been killed by a placental haemorrhage .

The notes confirmed he had died due to lack of oxygen and placental abruption, but when Karen looked the symptoms up online she realised she had been showing all the signs when she was first admitted to hospital.

WHAT IS PLACENTAL ABRUPTION?

Placental abruption happens when there is bleeding behind the placenta, between the placenta and the wall of the uterus.

There may be just a small amount of bleeding but if there is a large amount of bleeding it can be a sign that the placenta has partially or completely separate from the lining of the womb. Placental abruption can be serious for mother and baby - a large amount of bleeding can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients. It increases the risk of the baby being born prematurely, having growth problems, being stillborn or dying in the first 28 days of life. Placental abruption is diagnosed in up to one in 50 pregnancies.

It's most likely to happen in late pregnancy, or during active labour.

‘I started to get angry that it hadn’t been spotted sooner. Everyone had been too quick to blame sex and missed the symptoms of something much more serious.

‘I felt if they hadn’t been preoccupied with me having had sex, my son might have been saved.’

She was a lso relieved to learn that placental abruption was not caused by sex.

‘I’d been blaming myself but now I realised actually it hadn’t been my fault. Making love in pregnancy is perfectly safe and most couples do it .

'I’d been torturing myself with the idea that we had caused our baby’s death and I felt I needed to prove to myself that I was not responsible at all to be able to grieve.'

Mrs Smith, who has three other children - Jessica, 14, Jordan, 11 and Chelsea, 7, contacted a solicitor that dealt with mishandled births and began a case.



The expert who examined the evidence concluded that staff should have recognised the signs of a placental abruption earlier and delivered her baby sooner.

Mrs Smith added: ‘To know he may have survived if they had acted quicker was heartbreaking. But I knew I would keep blaming myself until I got justice.’

The hospital offered a settlement for the loss of her son and her womb, which she initially rejected.

But after a four-year battle they made another offer without liability, which she accepted. She said: ‘I wanted a day in court to finally prove that I was not responsible for my son’s death.

‘But the battle was taking it’s toll on the family and in the last September I decided to accept their offer to move on.

Mrs Smith has now accepted an undisclosed settlement from the hospital after it was proven her son could have survived if she'd been operated on sooner

‘It was made without liability but it still gave me a sense of justice that I was not to blame and neither was my husband.

‘I needed to see in black and white that it wasn’t my fault and making love had not harmed my baby.’

Mrs Smith now wants to raise awareness of placental abruption so parents know the signs to look for.

She also wants to assure mothers there is nothing wrong with having sex while pregnant.



I spent a long time blaming myself. Of course I regretted it because soon after my son died. But I know through my research the placental abruption would have happened anyway.