Child birth doesn’t always give the guarantees we expect when we’re expecting. One mum in the UK has been left wheelchair bound after a complication with her recent c-section delivery.
Ella Clarke, 31, then mother to seven children, was scheduled to have a caesarean for her recent baby delivery in December 2015.
Ella and her partner, Ian Ross, 32, were excited by the new addition to their already large family.
The couple are parents to Abbie 13 (conceived by Ella’s previous partner), Holly, eight, Heidi, seven, Blossom, five, Oakley, four, Izzy, three, and two-year-old Freddie.
When Freddie was 8 months old, Ella fell pregnant again.
The couple were excited. Ella told the Daily Mail, ‘I started having morning sickness and did a pregnancy test. It came back positive and I was four weeks pregnant.
‘We were delighted. To be honest I could have just kept going and going. I love being a mum and running around after my children. It’s the greatest feeling on earth.
‘People thought we were mad having such a huge family, but we couldn’t be happier.’
When Ella went to have her 20 week scan, the midwife informed her she had placenta previa, a low lying placenta.
Usually a c-section is recommended as the condition can cause trouble at the time of delivery with excessive bleeding.
As doctors monitored Ella, it was decided that she would have another C-section when it was time to deliver.
Ella said: ‘Because I had a traumatic labour when I was 18 with my first child, I’d had six caesareans through choice with every other birth. But this time I was told I needed one for medical reasons.
‘It was the first time I’d suffered from placenta previa but I wasn’t nervous about being cut open again to have a baby – as I was a pro by now.’
Ella had a fairly normal pregnancy, but at 36 weeks she started to bleed and was taken to Torbay Hospital in Torquay.
Doctors told Ella the baby was fine, but she needed to have her c-section.
‘I wasn’t worried at all, I was just excited about meeting my little girl,’ she said.
‘I remember telling Ian as they sedated me that I was so excited. We were dreaming of a family holiday with with our children – all eight of them.’
Winter Rose was born weighing 6lb 5oz, but half an hour into the procedure Ella began to lose a lot of blood.
This was when Ella’s nightmare began and she woke up SIX days later,while discovering her legs had been amputated due to a complication.
Ella lost six litres of blood due to placenta accrete, a dangerous complication which can be common with women who have had C-sections in the past.
The complications prompted doctors to perform an emergency hysterectomy on Ella and gave her five blood transfusions to save Ella’s life.
Ella was then placed in an induced coma and transferred to intensive care.
‘I had no idea what was going on. I was put to sleep for the C-section and then put immediately into an induced coma when things started to go wrong.
‘I now know it’s common for blood to clot in the legs in this situation, so it was imperative they monitored me every hour.’
“I thought I was waking up from my C-section. I expected my beautiful little baby girl to be passed to me.”
Ella alleges the doctors forgot to check her each hour and after six hours had passed, the blood in her legs had clotted and circulation had stopped which starved her lower limbs of blood supply.
Surgeons tried to get the circulation back in Ella’s legs but it was too late and both of her legs had to be amputated from below the knee down.
That decision changed Ella’s life forever.
‘Going into hospital to have a baby should have been the best moment of my life,’ she said. ‘Instead my world has been shattered.
‘I was an active mum doing the school runs and chasing my family around the garden. Now I’m the complete opposite.
‘I might never be able to run after my children, or stand next to them. No human being should ever have to experience this after it could have so easily been avoided.’
Ella is now instructing legal action against the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.
Ella and Ian were informed of the hospital’s oversight and were issued an apology.
‘I finally got my apology, but it was five months too late.
‘I have eight children to look after, what life can I have now? This has impacted us far worse than you can ever imagine.
“I went from being an active mum to instantly wheelchair bound. I couldn’t stop crying.”
Throughout the whole ordeal, baby Winter Rose has been amazing and beautiful and just as Ella had envisaged.
In March 2016, Ella received two hours of counselling and prosthetic legs, but it’s difficult getting used to them while running a household with eight children.
Ella is devastated she can’t be the mum she wants to be.
‘A thoughtless oversight has cost me so much. I will never stand on my own two feet again and that makes me shudder.’ She said.
The mum is now a shadow of her former self. Her children are too scared to hug her because of her leg stubs. It’s been a big adjustment for everyone.
‘I’m now sleeping downstairs in the living room and trying to get used to walking with prosthetic legs, but it’s challenging. I’m having counselling to cope with the shock but my whole life has changed forever.’
A spokesman for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust have offered their sympathy to Ella and will carry out a full investigation.
That is so sad hope you dealing ok now xx feel so sorry for you hun xx
I could just imagen how hard that would be with 8 kids hun
Love chloe xx