Mother’s shock as coil found after baby is born

A MOTHER has told of her shock after her contraceptive coil was discovered in her baby’s placenta when she became pregnant and gave birth while using birth control.

Claire Cowen, 34, had been using a non-hormonal coil for three years when she found she was 13 weeks pregnant with her son, Lewis, who is now aged 15 months.

The mother-of-three was told the coil was sitting tilted above her cervix and doctors couldn’t remove it in case it accidentally ruptured the baby’s amniotic sac.

She was closely monitored during her pregnancy but doctors couldn’t guarantee her baby would survive if the coil worked its way into the sac – all she could do was “wait and see”.

Ms Cowen and husband, David, 38, a courier, were delighted to welcome their son at 39 weeks in November 2019, at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, weighing a healthy 6lb 3oz.

To the couple’s shock after Lewis arrived so did Claire’s contraceptive coil – which had become embedded in her placenta.

The social worker, from Penicuik, Midlothian, who already had two children – Craig, 16, and Lucy, six – said: “It was the most stressful, scary few months of my life. We had no idea how it would go or if my little boy would survive.

“All the stories I could find were about women losing babies when they fell pregnant with the coil.

“I remained positive and Lewis arrived safely – he’s my little miracle.”

According to the NHS, Intrauterine devices (IUD) or the coil, are more than 99 per cent effective at preventing pregnancy.