Happy ending after traumatic birth of son
AROYAL Navy serviceman has opened up about how he pulled himself up from darkness after the traumatic birth of his second child nearly lost him his wife and his newborn son.
Petty Officer Scott Falkiner, 31, from Camborne, and his wife Elodie, 28, were looking forward to welcoming their second child, Arthur, into the world with a home birth in 2019. The ceremonial drill instructor, stationed at HMS Raleigh in Torpoint, says what should have been one of the most joyous occasions of their life quickly turned to fear as Elodie’s waters broke and a flow of blood followed.
Scott felt like he failed his family, shut himself off from the world and could not look at little Arthur. He was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has since taken back control of his life. Both mother and baby survived and are doing well, but
Scott recalls a time when he was told his son had suffered brain damage.
“We planned a home birth, and as soon as the waters broke we knew something was wrong with the amount of blood that my wife lost,” he said. “We called an ambulance out straight away.”
Scott revealed they were told that, if the baby was delivered in the ambulance, then his wife and his baby would not survive the journey. “All hell broke loose at the hospital and my wife couldn’t even get on a bed before Arthur was born,” he continued. “It was such a traumatic experience. When Arthur arrived, she was still on the hospital trolley and I just remember everything, everywhere, being covered in blood. The baby, the nurses, the doctors, the paramedics, me. We didn’t know what was happening.”
Later, they were told a ruptured placenta led to the complications and baby Arthur had blood in his lungs. He was resuscitated and taken to intensive care, but suffered seizures in the hours that followed. Elodie lost a lot of blood, but was in a stable condition. “After numerous scans, they found out that he had frontal lobe brain damage,” Scott said. “It was meant to be a joyous occasion between me and my wife, and it just got turned into the opposite. In that conversation, I felt like I was in a black hole and just in a room by myself.”
Scott has since received the help he needed and Arthur has grown into a cheeky and energetic toddler, defying any initial health scares. “I was able to attend Departments of Community Mental Health sessions [speciality mental health care for serving personnel], and later on we were able to slowly start taking back our lives and accept what happened, which was just a freak accident that could not have been prevented,” he said.
The two-year timeframe also passed this September, which means Elodie and Scott now have a better idea on how Arthur is doing, developmentally. “We had the news that he was able to develop new neurological pathways to the affected side of the brain, because it happened so early,” explained Scott. “He’s now able to walk, he’s able to talk, and he doesn’t stop running around, to be honest. He’s showing signs of a completely healthy and normal two-yearold boy, so we’re over the moon with that.”
After being sent to a mental health rehabilitation centre at Wiltshire-based Tedworth House, funded by Help for Heroes, Scott discovered a passion for art and is now selling 200 hand-painted limited edition poppy pieces, with proceeds going to Help for Heroes.
‘In that conversation, I felt like I was in a black hole and just in a room by myself’ SCOTT FALKINER