Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘We would like to help others suffering loss’
“They tried to find a heartbeat but they couldn’t find one,” she said.
Kerry was transferred to the scanning department, before doctors broke the news the baby was stillborn.
She said: “Eventually they let Tony come in because of how distressed I became and, after he asked them to confirm it, they did the scan again.
“They showed us that there was no heartbeat and no blood flow around the baby. I could see that he wasn’t moving and didn’t have a heartbeat.”
Kerry was told that she had a low-lying placenta, meaning that it was covering her cervix.
It was recommended that she undergo surgery but they took the risky decision of inducing labour.
Baby Anthony was delivered at 5.30pm on April 22.
It was at this point the baby was taken through to another room, where hospital staff conducted initial tests before placing him in a cold cot.
A cold cot – also known as a cuddle cot – is a unit designed to preserve the bodies of stillborn babies so that the family have time to spend with their baby.
It’s fully refrigerated and surrounds the baby, ensuring that its appearance doesn’t change as quickly as it might do without a cuddle cot.
Kerry said: “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see Anthony initially because I didn’t want to have a scary image in my memory. Once Tony saw him, he said I should, that he looked like a little boy.
“Tony and I hope that, if people in the future had those cuddle cots with them when the baby is brought through, then they’ll be preserved much more effectively and it might not be as distressing because I found it really hard when I woke up that morning and he had visibly changed.”
Kerry added: “We would like to thank the hospital, all of its staff and anybody that has helped donate memorabilia to the charity Sands for all of the aftercare and items that we received.”
Anyone wishing to donate to their fundraiser can do so by going to GoFundMe and searching Anthony Xander Fox Thompson.