We recommend any expectant Mums who are worried or concerned by reading or watching these news reports should contact her Midwife or GP to chat through these worries.

Our patron Dr Bryan Beattie commented this morning:

“The complications reported in the news this morning are very rare in the UK and our Mums should not worry or get upset by them. However it is important to speak to your healthcare advisor about these risks. Risks such as these should be considered and discussed when chosing your prefered birth place. 

If you are concerned in particualr about a Low-lying Placenta the RCOG have produced a useful help sheet:

RCOG Low lying Placenta

If you are diagnosed with a Low-lying Placenta you will be closely monitored, in the majority of  cases Placentas do move in the last few weeks of pregnancy, a scan at around 36 weeks will confirm this.”

The NHS Choices Website also has an abundance of information and advice to help you:

We at COUNT THE KICKS™ aim to encourage and empower Mums with knowledge, we also want to ensure every Mum knows the importance of sharing any questions or concerns with their Midwife, GP or Consultant, to ensure she recieves the best advice and care.

This year literally thousands supported our event not only raising funds but also awareness of our campaign. We had lovely weather and a great array of stalls and entertainment.

The Mascot "Grand National" won by Guss The GIVING Gorilla

The finale to the day was a superb Mascot race.

We are so excited about next years event. It has been booked for Sunday 8th July 11-4pm.

We are hoping to have even more fun and games to raise money and awareness.

Anyone interested in booking a stall or coming allong to the day take a look at our Family Fun page.

The ceremony was hosted by Ruth and Eamonn from ITV This Morning and many other celebs were there to honor these inspirational women.

Congratulations Sophia!

Women could soon be supported in their choice of birth whether this is by C-section or LOTUS birthing, every woman should be given the information and support to enable her to make her own informed decision on how and where her baby is born.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/women-could-c-section-060307707.html

We are preparing for THE BABY SHOW at Earls Court London which starts on Friday 28th October, through to Sunday 30th October

Kick Count Wristband £3.50 each

We are so excited as this will give us the opportunity to meet and chat to over 20’000 new and expectant Mums, we are taking a huge amount of our popular Kick Count Wrist Bands.

We are also running a FREE PRIZE draw in association with PHILIPS AVENT who have kindly donated 2 Breast Pumps.

Anyone who shows their support for COUNT THE KICKS™ by registering FREE as a member will be entered into our prize draw.

All entries must be recieved by 30th November

Our stand is G75 so make sure you come and say hello!

I had a perfect pregnancy. There was no morning sickness, no major cravings, no stretch marks and I put on barely any weight! (Hooray!) We were arguing over names on a daily basis (particularly boys names so it was a relief when we found out that we were having a girl!) Things were really coming together. After my twenty week scan I was gutted that there were no more scans due as I didn’t feel that I could wait that long to see my wee girl again! Part of me was delighted that I had to have a growth scan at 34 weeks as it meant I got to have another peek of her!

Then, on the night of 8th August, eleven days before her due date, I became concerned. Sophie had always been what I called a “nocturnal foetus”, always kicking about and playing just as I was going to sleep. That night, nothing. At the time I put it down to her being so big now she was too tired to move and had no room anyway.

The next morning I was really worried. I could not get hold of my midwife so called Labour Suite who advised me to come in and get checked over. I thought I would have a scan, hear the heartbeat, and be sent home to continue baking my little bun for a couple more weeks. I didn’t even take my hospital bag. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I arrived at the ante-natal ward at 1pm. I was strapped up to a monitor and given a jug of iced water to drink. After an hour I was transferred to Labour Suite. It didn’t register with me at the time that this was going to be it, so when the Consultant came in at 3.30pm and told me that I would be having a c-section in the next half an hour I went into complete shock. I was shaking so much they struggled to get the cannular in. I was told by the consultant that I would not get to see my baby as she would be taken straight to NICU. Sophie Christina was born at 4.08pm and as white as this page. By 4.20pm she was in a NICU cot.

Between the morphine and trauma everything was a blur. I was laid up in a recovery bay whilst my partner went to and fro getting my hospital bag collected, visiting MY baby in the NICU and making the ‘phone calls. At 6pm reality hit and I demanded to know what was going on. The consultant advised me that I had suffered a foetal/maternal transfusion, also known as a Placental Abruption. The misfortune of this case was that it had been silent owing to Sophie losing blood rather than me. She was transfused for the first time at 9pm.

I finally got to meet my baby girl at 10.10pm, six hours after her birth. She was so tiny, and so white. Every shade of guilt went through me for not looking after her properly and for not being ecstatic about her from the very start. I willed her to fight for her life. Shortly after I left her for the night Sophie had a seizure and required Phenobarbitone. The same thing happened the next morning.

Sophie made an amazing recovery and we only spent a week in the hospital. However, after we had registered her birth and shown her off to all and sundry, things took a massive turn for the worse. At thirteen days old Sophie developed a rash across her body and began bringing up blood. In a rush back to the hospital Sophie was readmitted, taken off her feeds with immediate effect and transfused again.

Two days into her readmission it was discovered that she had also contracted MRSA and she was put into isolation. It was so unfair that this beautiful girl had done nothing to deserve being shut away from the world. She was more ill than before and took another seizure. It was decided that an MRI scan was required and this showed brain damage as a result from the loss of oxygen during her traumatic birth. The prognosis was not good. Every day was a struggle. One day things were looking good but we knew that the next day we could be back to the start. I lived in the Ronald McDonald Suite at the hospital so that, when she eventually went back onto her feeds, I was at her beck and call.

A month later, we brought Sophie home. Sophie has had a hospital appointment approximately once a month since she was born. We have been through special infant clinic, ENT clinic (she had her adenoids removed when she was two due to sleep apnoea), seizure clinic (discharged last week :-) ) and we are left now with preschool developmental clinic. Sophie starts primary school in August, on schedule, the week after her 5th birthday. She has exceeded the expectation of every doctor who looked after her, and is a marvel to new doctors who meet her. She has some developmental delay and educational challenges, but is otherwise a happy, healthy girl with a big appetite and one heck of a sense of humour.

We were the lucky ones, and not a day goes by that I am not grateful for this. However, I wish I had known more before the event. Sophie does not deserve to be wearing size 2-3 clothes at the age of 5 because she lost so much weight on her readmission that she has never been able to climb back up the centiles. She doesn’t deserve to catch every bug going because her immune system was compromised by spending so much of her neonatal period in an incubator. And she does not deserve the stress of constant blood tests to check her iron levels “just in case” she needs medication again. The guilt  I feel now lies with not knowing what I should have done sooner, and I hope that being part of this campaign helps me to eradicate the possibility of that guilt from other mums to be.

I hope that this story highlights that even in the event of a baby surviving something like this, the happy ending comes with consequences and worry for years to come. This campaign is so important as it offers advice BEFORE the event, and that advice is valuable to every expecting parent.

Christina x x x

In september 2009 I had a straight forward natural birth with my first son.
I was induced at 41 weeks due to mild symptoms of pre-eclampsia but all
went well and i delivered a healthy 8lb 8oz baby. On thursday 24th February
this year I was browsing your Facebook page as I often do, and was just
coming up to 38 weeks pregnant with my second baby. I’m lucky to say that
I’ve had two healthy pregnancies and no miscarriages. I was reading
Sophia’s link she’d put up of the article she’d had written about her
heartache in losing beautiful baby Chloe the year before printed in the
Daily Mirror. I was thinking as I was looking at my computer screen that I
actually shouldn’t have been reading such things as it was going to make me
paranoid. How ironic! As I was sat there reading the part about how Sophia
suddenly realized she hadn’t felt much movement in her tummy for a day it
suddenly struck me that despite having my 38 week check with my midwife that
very day, my baby’s movements had changed. I could feel what I would describe
as a ‘writhing’ but no kicks anymore, not even a light one if I sat my glass
of water on the top of my belly.

I spent the next couple of hours thinking I may be worrying about nothing
but then mentioned it to my husband who suggested we just popped to the
hospital for a quick check.

I’m so glad we did. After some monitoring it was apparent something wasn’t
quite right so they kept me in. The baby’s heart rate was not accelerating as
it should every few minutes which suggests the baby wasn’t moving. After a
scan the next day they could see the cord was round the neck but weren’t
sure exactly how many times so decided to induce me for natural labour.
Straight away, the second I knew something wasn’t quite right I just wanted
them to get my baby delivered. They were 50/50 I may need a C-section but
wanted to try me for a natural delivery as they said babies are born with
the cord around their necks all the time but they were obviously closely
monitoring the baby throughout.

Once the harder contractions started the baby’s heart beat was dropping
significantly after each one so they gave me the emergency C-section I was
sure I’d end up with. Baby Stanley was born with the cord wrapped around his
neck 5 times, and luckily he will live to tell the tale unlike many babies
who sadly won’t. The whole team in the theatre that night said they’d never
seen the cord wrapped around that many times. He weighed 5lb 9oz – a lot less
than my first little boy and the staff were sure that was due to the cord
being wrapped around so many times.

I am so grateful for the COUNT THE KICKS™ campaign and for the Facebook group that I was
browsing that Thursday afternoon. Had I not been, I’m not sure I would have
really noticed the changes in movement and I dread to think of what may have
happened if I hadn’t gone to hospital that day. I bumped into the initial
midwife who kept me in that night about a month later in Mothercare and she
said that it is never too much trouble for you to just pop to hospital and
get checked out and they really don’t mind. Trusting your instincts is the
key.

Thank you everyone who works so hard on the campaign, keep up the great work
in raising awareness you’re doing a grand job!

Hayley Milson
Mummy to Frankie 21 months and Stanley 3 months

The report reveals lack of awareness and education amongst pregnant women is a key failure in the UK.
http://www.thelancet.com/series/stillbirth

The charity COUNT THE KICKS™ are an awareness campaign working to prevent some of the 4100 stillbirths that occur in the UK each year.

Following a perfectly healthy and “normal lo risk” pregnancy in November 2009 the charities founder Sophia Mason called her maternity ward to report her baby’s lack of movement. Her baby was delivered Stillborn by emergency Caesarean Section on 27th November 3 days before her due date, her Umbilical Cord was wrapped tightly around her neck twice, and the cause of her death was officially registered as unexplained.

In the months following Chloe’s death Sophia, 33 from Guildford, set up the charity COUNT THE KICKS™ to try to raise awareness of the risks in the later stages of pregnancy. The statistics surrounding stillbirth and infant loss in the UK are staggering and among the highest in Europe – 6500 babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth every year in the UK, that’s 17 each day. 70% of these deaths are classed as unexplained.

The Lancet Report states 90% of Stillbirths are avoidable

“I believe Chloe’s death was avoidable, had I been aware of the risks we face in the later stages of pregnancy and just how many babies are lost each year. I would most certainly have called for help far sooner. I knew about the risk of Miscarriage earlier on but once we had reached our 20 week scan we thought we were safe. I attended NCT (National Childbirth Trust) classes to try to learn as much as I could to ensure our baby arrived safely, but was never told of the risks we faced or even the importance of my baby’s movements. I wish I had not listened to all the old wives tales about baby’s movements slowing down due to lack of space or because they are getting ready for birth, I am a well educated intelligent woman and can’t believe I did not realise something as simple as this, no one ever thinks it will happen to them, but it does happen.”

“The stillbirth rate in the UK has not changed in over 10 years, “Awareness bares a huge impact in the prevention of deaths in all health risks, and it is just so frustrating that there is such a taboo surrounding the death of a baby.”

“Our aim is not to scare people, but like the Cot Death (SIDS) campaign headed up by Anne Diamond, we want to ensure parents are aware of the risks and are completely equip with knowledge, to ensure that if they did become concerned about their unborn baby at any point in their pregnancy, to call for advice from their midwife or maternity award immediately. Our campaign is not just about baby’s movements it is about following your instinct, your Mothers intuition. You know when there is something wrong with your child, even during pregnancy; it is just part of being a Mother.”

Awareness will save many lives

“We are all aware of the pressures the NHS’s maternity departments are under, we believe that if expectant Mums take responsibility of their own health and care throughout their pregnancy and work with their Midwives and health care professionals, by discussing concerns and attending appointments, by calling their Midwives or wards if they are ever concerned or worried and if they are unsatisfied to get a second opinion. A simple act such as having extra independent ultrasound scans or just researching inherent problems will empower expectant Mums. Many complications and hopefully deaths will be prevented.”

A simple solution

COUNT THE KICKS™ produces stickers for the front of Antenatal Notes for all patients in the UK. The sticker, they hope will remind the patient to call for advice if she is worried at all throughout her pregnancy. With space to write the direct telephone numbers of her midwife and maternity ward. “It may sound very obvious, but when I was worried, at 4 o’clock in the morning, searching through my notes trying to find a phone number was the hardest thing in the world, I hope these stickers will help to reduce the worry and give expectant Mums the confidence to ask for advice”.

The COUNT THE KICKS™ campaign has been backed by RCM and RCOG also many organisations such as BOUNTY are helping to distribute the Stickers and leaflets. Thousands of supporters throughout the UK are raising money to help raise awareness. “We receive letters and emails daily from people who not only have lost baby’s but also those who feel our campaign has encouraged them to seek advice and now, as a result they have healthy happy babies in their arms.”

Why are pregnant women not told about risks?

There is always a concern that informing pregnant women of risks could increase worry and stress, however this could be said for any health issues such as Cot Death, Cancer, Heart Disease. These are all issues that have made huge steps in the reduction of deaths directly by increasing awareness “We believe by having the right approach to the subject, expectant Mums should not be scared, but empowered. We know we shouldn’t smoke or each raw egg in pregnancy, so being aware of risks later in pregnancy should be openly discussed and common practice”.

Following a reduction in fetal movements women should be advised to contact their midwife or hospital for further assessment.

The N.I.C.E. no longer recommend 10 kicks per day/hour however they state “Following a reduction in fetal movements women should be advised to contact their midwife or hospital for further assessment.”

So how should a pregnant woman recognise a change in her baby’s movements if she is not routinely monitoring them? Why should this information be hidden from an expectant Mother?

COUNT THE KICKS™ hope doctor’s surgeries, antenatal clinics and maternity wards will display their FREE posters to help raise awareness and teach expectant Mums of the importance of calling for advice, also that Midwives and groups will distribute their FREE stickers.

COUNT THE KICKS™ stickers and posters are available throughout the UK free of charge email your name and address to stickers@countthekicks.org.uk . These stickers and posters are being funded solely from donations and private sponsorship.

Download a Stillbirth Factsheet

PRESS RELEASE 140411 The Lancet Series Report

For further information about the Campaign and their aims visit www.countthekicks.org.uk or telephone 07951 880600

I had a perfect pregnancy, my midwife even commented on how I had blossomed throughout. Bump moved lots all the way through and I was feeling fantastic. Her due date was 28/12/10 and we all joked at how she might be a christmas baby, but being late for everything myself, I thought my baby would follow suit.

One evening before Christmas I felt a very strange erratic movement, like my baby had a small fit. My instincts told me something wasn’t right, but I’m not the type of person to cause a fuss. I didn’t want to bother an already pressured NHS system and after all we’re told movements are a good thing. So I left it.

I had 2 midwife appointments after that strange movement, where I reported that things had slowed down, but each time I was assured this was normal close to their due date. The heart beat was found with the doppler and there appeared to be no cause for concern. However by the 3rd of January movement stopped completely and I was worried. We called the labour ward who asked us to come in.

They monitored us for 40 minutes and although the heartbeat was there, it wasn’t fluctuating as much as they hoped. I was put on a drip to hydrate me, which improved things, but as a precuation they decided I should go to the delivery suit in case they wanted to break my waters. We literally went down in the lift and I popped to the loo. It must have taken 10 minutes at the most, but when they hooked us back upto the machine the heartbeat was gone. They found a small pulse on a scanner and rushed me in for an emergency c-sect.

When I came round I knew she had gone. Our beautiful Eva Lily, weighing a healthy 8lb 4oz and a perfect mix of my husband and I, lay lifeless in my arms.

My husband had also come close to losing both of us. I lost 2.5 litres of blood resulting in a blood transfusion and a night recovering in intensive care.

This was the most horrendous night of our lives.

Since then I have learnt the most valuable lesson….. To listen to my intuition and nobody else. Prehaps this was meant to be, and I can certainly say Eva is helping teach us many things, but I also wish that I had been told what to look out for.

I can remember feeling so overwhelmed when I was told by the consultant the following day, that this kind of movement is a common sign of distress.

What use is it to have this information after your baby has died?

My only wish is that our stories are heard and this campaign makes an impact. Giving women knowledge can only help bring the number of stillbirths down. If I had known Eva would be with us now.

My story was once one of hope but then got shattered again.

I fell pregnant with my 3rd child (First 2 pregnancies – no problems 2 healthy girls 14 yrs and 5 yrs)

Everything was going to plan – another little girl. I went into labour – like the other 2 right on my due date. Saw the community midwife at 12 midday who informed me I was about 4cms “go home and just wait!!” – I was told after she decided to do a sweep.

So off I went counting down the hours to see my little bundle – so excited to be becoming a mum again.

At 5pm I was getting more pains and my husband told me we should go in, I rang the hospital to inform them we would soon be on our way.

Then what I thought were my waters broke – my sister said that there was blood in it but I took no notice. Then came the most horrific pain I have ever felt in my entire life – it was like someone ripping my insides out. We called the midwife and an ambulance as I couldn’t move , but I did think it was just horrible labour.

Once we got to the hospital I was semi-conscious I had lost so much blood, they scanned me and we were there for what seemed like ages, then the consultant came in and told me that my baby had died.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing – how had this happened? I had heard the heartbeat at the Midwife’s appointment just hours before. I was in complete shock.

We went home the next day numb. I had gone into hospital expecting to come home with my new baby but instead I came home with nothing.

Four years passed and the empty feeling I had inside me was still yearning. I fell pregnant again devastated though at first as I didn’t know what to expect, but I was seen at the hospital as a High Priority and my antenatal care was pretty good. My Pregnancy was going ok but then the 28 week scan showed he wasn’t growing as he should so they scanned me every 2 weeks. I was admitted into hospital at 33 weeks with pain so they kept me in and said he would be early. After 36 hours and after the steroid injections I was sent home with an appointment the following Wednesday – I didn’t get to the Wednesday as on the Sunday I was having contractions so in we went. I didn’t imagine for one minute that anything was wrong – we got to the hospital and I was taken straight to delivery suite, the Dr’s and Midwives all came in and scanned me – I will never forget the looks of horror on their faces , the Dr then said the words I was dreading “I’m so sorry but your baby has died”. I couldn’t control my anger and told everyone to get out after shouting that they had promised everything would be ok.

We spent 12 hours with my ‘Sam’ and were finally sent home – empty handed and so alone.

4 months later I received a letter from my consultant asking to see me, she then told me after bloods were done following the birth they had detected a clotting disorder which they were 90% certain had caused both abruptions.

I am now being treated and have been told if I want to get pregnant again I will receive Heparin injections throughout my pregnancy – How do I put myself through that again!!?

I feel like a surrogate mother carrying my babies till nearly term then coming home with nothing – the feeling of emptiness never goes away.

In March this year I stumbled across Chloe’s “COUNT THE KICKS™” Campaign and thought what a brilliant thing Sophia was doing as from my own experiences no one would talk about Stillbirths – it was like going back to the dark ages it was such a taboo and still is.

In September this year Sophia was asking for Fundraisers around the country. Could I do this after all I had been through – did I want to bring it all flooding back, the answer was that if I couldhelp just one baby come into this world after a mother has been made aware of all the risks and complications that pregnancy can hold then yes I can do this.

I am now running the Midlands team of Fundraisers and I’m doing this for my Babies. Their short lives were not in vain – we can change things and we will.