A woman gave birth at home the morning after being discharged from A&E and only hours after medics told her she was six to eight weeks pregnant.
Erin Hogg, 20, went to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, with chronic pains.
Despite her concerns, doctors told her there was nothing wrong although tests had confirmed she was in the early stages of pregnancy,
Still in pain, and shock, Erin returned to her Wisbech home but called 999 the following morning because of continuing excruciating pains.
She waited around 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive.
“Within five minutes of them being here I had to rush to the toilet as I felt I needed to go ASAP – I thought I was constipated!” she said.
“I was crying to my partner, Karl.
“After using the toilet, I was halfway down the stairs when I put my hand down and all I could feel was a baby's head.
Far from being six to eight weeks pregnant, Erin was in full labour and was pushing for 11 minutes.
Her daughter, Piper Summersgill, was born at 10:11am on August 10, weighing six pounds and seven ounces.
“I can’t thank the ambulance service enough for their help, especially after the swearing that came out my mouth!” she added.
After Piper was born, the ambulances took her back to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
“The ward I was on was amazing,” she said.
“I had to have a blood transfusion because of the amount I lost when giving birth.”
Erin was at least familiar with the hospital procedures since it was where her son was born 15 months ago.
“I had a perfectly normal birth,” she said.
Erin has finally been able to go to her family home in Scotland to show off the latest member of the family.
“I had no idea I was pregnant at all,” she said.
“I had no bump; no pregnancy symptoms and I still had my regular periods.”
"I also had Covid and had my first vaccine whilst pregnant with Piper - even then I had no idea!"
Erin went to King’s Lynn hospital on August 9 with chronic bladder pain.
“I told them my bladder felt like it was about to explode,” she said.
“I got examined by a doctor who pressed down on my stomach, but I was in so much pain I just kept crying asking them to stop.”
The doctor told Erin something didn’t feel right in her stomach, and they could feel some hard lumps.
They advised for her to have a scan.
“To start with they thought I had a urine infection,” said Erin.
“The scans the doctor wanted got declined twice by the A&E staff.”
Erin had numerous blood and urine tests and ended up being told that she was between eight and nine weeks pregnant.
She asked for a scan that would have allowed her to properly find out how far along she was, but this was refused.
“I had one nurse telling me I’m going to the ward so need to do two Covid tests, but another told me to go home at just gone midnight.
“All I had at the hospital was some morphine which never even touched the edge of the pain.
“I kept telling them that but ended up leaving with no explanation at all,” she added.
Erin feels the A&E department let her down massively.
“If only they did that scan,” she said.
She is putting in a written complaint and wants answers to what went wrong.
“Myself and my partner were just traumatised by the whole situation” she said.
Alice Webster, Chief Nurse at QEH, said: “The Trust has contacted Ms Hogg to apologise for the shortcomings in our care and to listen to her concerns.
"We will carry out a thorough investigation after which we will offer to meet Ms Hogg to share the findings and our learning.”
Erin would like to thank the ambulance crew who helped her with the birth of Piper, as well as the team on the ward who cared for her in hospital.
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