My baby died after midwives abandoned me when I gave birth – they gave me so much pain relief I couldn’t scream for help

A DEVASTATED mum claims her baby died after midwives abandoned her while she was giving birth - despite her pregnancy being high risk.

Little Liliwen Iris Thomas passed away less than a day after mum Emily Brazier gave birth to her at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff on October 10, 2022.

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Emily was heavily monitored in the lead-up to her labour, as she had a condition which heightened the risk of complications.

But the mum said no midwives or nurses where there when she went into labour, nor was she allowed to have her partner in the room due to hospital visiting restrictions.

Emily claimed she was given so much pain relief after being induced that she wasn’t able to call for help, and only realised she'd given birth after pulling her sheets back to see Liliwen in "a blood bath".

The tot died 20 hours later after being starved of oxygen.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board issued a statement saying its “sincere thoughts and heartfelt condolences” were with Emily and her family.

An inquest is due to take place and the health board said they will comment further after the conclusion of the hearing.

Emily claimed: “I’m angry at how I was left alone. For all the checks I had during my pregnancy, what were they for if I was going to be abandoned when it really mattered?

“Being left unattended with the gas and air, which I heavily overused due to non-existent monitoring, I then vividly remember peeling back the covers and seeing Liliwen there, completely still and lifeless.

"I can only describe it as a blood bath. That image will be with me forever.

"I still have flashbacks and nightmares and have been in counselling since.”

Emily’s partner Rhodri Thomas said he wasn’t there at the time because of the health board’s policy of partners and friends not being allowed in ward between 9pm and 9am.

Partners were only allowed on the ward if the mother is in active labour.

“I should have been there,” Rhodri said. “I would have pressed the call bell and alerted midwives.”

Emily was closely monitored throughout her pregnancy and underwent an induction as she had low pregnancy associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A), which she'd also experienced with her older daughter Carys.

She was under the care of a consultant during her pregnancy with Liliwen and had several scans over the months to ensure the baby’s welfare.

Liliwen was due on October 7 so Emily was booked in for an induction under PAPP-A protocols, but was sent home twice due to lack of bed availability.

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When Emily was eventually induced on October 9, she was told there was no room in the delivery suite.

During monitoring, medics were made aware Emily's labour three years earlier, with Carys, had progressed very quickly after she was given pethidine and entonox pain medication.

The mum was given the same mix of drugs for Liliwen’s birth.

She claims she was left unattended with gas and air at around 11.50pm.

At 2.15am on October 10, Emily recalls “being in a cycle of puffing gas and air, passing out, and repeating”.

She recalled: “They took Liliwen away and rushed me up to the delivery suite, I had lost a lot of blood and needed stitches, IV fluids and a blood transfusion.

Holding your child as they take their last breath, leaving them behind after their last ever cuddle, walking out of the hospital with an empty car seat, there are so many painful memories seared into my brain

Emily

"All this happened while I was still on the induction ward with only curtains around my bed separating me from four other women. It must have been horrendous for them too.”

Rhodri claimed he was only told by hospital staff that Emily had gone into labour and expected to meet his newborn daughter when he arrived.

“I got a taxi to the hospital and remember talking to the taxi driver excitedly about how I was about to meet my newborn child,” he said.

“When I got there and saw Emily, she was white as a ghost and in a bad way, she told me: ‘I don’t know if our baby is alive'.”

Although Liliwen was put on life support, she died later that same day.

Her cause of death was given as lack of oxygen at birth, congenital bacterial infection and placental problems.

Emily and Rhodri say they have struggled psychologically in the aftermath of their ordeal.

The mum – who was studying to be a nurse at the time she had Liliwen – even opted against a career as a registered nurse due to the trauma she suffered on a hospital ward.

The couple welcomed their third child, a son named Ellis, in December 2024, but Emily says the grief from the loss of Liliwen continues to cast a shadow over the family’s lives.

“So many happy memories and special family moments are tinged with sadness," she said.

"I dread family events and Christmas as Liliwen will never be there, she will always be the missing piece, her death should never have happened and that’s hard to live with.

“I look at the faces of my living children and long to know what Liliwen would look like now at two-and-a-half years old.

"I will never get over her death, I feel stuck in time. I will never be the same person again.

"Holding your child as they take their last breath, leaving them behind after their last ever cuddle, walking out of the hospital with an empty car seat, there are so many painful memories seared into my brain.

“I have lost my child; it’s every parent’s worst nightmare and we live the nightmare every single day.”

The couple are now pursuing a claim against Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, which manages University Hospital of Wales, supported by the law firm Slater and Gordon.

“This is a truly shocking, almost unbelievable, case – I have never come across anything like this before,” said Lara Bennett, a senior associate at the firm.

“Emily’s pregnancy was known to be high risk, she was known to progress quickly in labour – yet she was left all on her own, with so much pain medication she did not even realise she had given birth to Liliwen.

"The failures in this case are astonishing and Liliwen’s death was wholly avoidable.

“We are supporting Emily and Rhodri in every way we can to secure justice for their daughter after the most unimaginable and traumatic ordeal.”

A spokesperson for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “Our sincere thoughts and heartfelt condolences remain with Liliwen’s family during this incredibly difficult time. The health board is fully engaged with the inquest process and it would be inappropriate to comment further until the inquest concludes.”

Emily and Rhodri expressed their gratitude to the Cardiff Rainbow Clinic for their care during the birth of Ellis, and are fundraising in Liliwen’s memory for the centre.

You can donate to it here.

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