A Waterford woman has spoken out about the heartbreak she endured after her baby suffered brain damage during birth and died as a result.
The Irish Sun reported Krystal Hunt said that she did everything right to ensure a healthy birth for her son.
“It breaks my heart to know I kept my baby safe for nine months. I ate well and did all the right things. He was a big, beautiful baby and his body and organs were perfectly formed.”
She was speaking after an inquest into the death of her son, Eli, which occurred due to a “medical misadventure” in University Hospital Waterford last October.
Hunt contracted the Strep B infection during labour, but the court was told that seven and a half hours passed before she was given an emergency caesarean section.
However, Hunt’s infection was not added to her chart and so she was given an epidural.
Baby Eli was delivered via C-section on October 18 2016. He was transferred to Cork University Hospital in critical condition almost immediately, where he died less than two weeks later.
Hunt and her husband Trevor, who are first-time parents, said that nothing out of the ordinary had happened during the pregnancy and that they had been delighted when they found out that they were going to have a baby.
Hunt said that she had spent “every waking minute” with Eli while he was on a ventilator.
“Our perfect little man fought with no help for nearly three days. During this time we had to watch our baby turn blue and gasp for air, each time scared this would be it, and then he would pull himself out of it.”
“I brought my son home in a tiny white coffin. This was not how I imagined bringing my first-born home.”
Irish mum's agony after bringing newborn son home 'in a tiny white coffin' https://t.co/RzhBcdRBeZ
— The Irish Sun (@IrishSunOnline) July 13, 2017
Since Eli’s death, protocol changes have taken place in the hospital.
The jury also said that communication needed to be improved upon too.
