Devastated mum tells of heartbreak as baby son dies in her arms
11.05.2022 - 23:48
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A devastated mum has told of the tragic loss of her two-day-old son after a rare condition caused a hole to develop in his diaphragm while he was still in the womb.
Sara Harrold gave birth to her son, Arlo Jay Brian, five weeks prematurely on March 15 but he tragically died just two days later after doctors fought hard to save his life.
Sara, from Wakefield, said that "everything was normal" with the pregnancy until she went for a scan at 20 weeks and medics asked her to come back another time because her son was "so wriggly" and "moved so much".
Sara went alone for a second scan two days later as she had promised her son, 11, that he would be the first to see the pictures, Yorkshire Live reports.
However, staff again struggled to get pictures and Sara was asked again to return again another time.
When she came back, Sara gave her name at the reception before she was escorted into a separate room where a doctor showed her a worrying scan of her baby.
Sara said: "He said 'I'm sorry but you need to look at this picture' and then said he's got congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and that it's life-threatening."
The doctor explained that CDH is a defect in an unborn baby's diaphragm that occurs when the diaphragm does not close the right way during the baby's development, meaning abdominal organs push through the defect into the chest cavity.
Sara said: "I asked if this meant he was going to die and he said 'I can't say. You will have to wait."
Sara admitted the news was "devastating" and she rushed out to get some fresh air and "broke down outside and rang my friend", who was there in a matter of minutes. She said: "I calmed myself down in the hope I could get some more information.
"They referred me to Leeds and I had to sit