Emily has kindly consented to me sharing her story with you. She has a daughter who is a Vasa Praevia survivor. I wanted to share her story because it illustrates the lack of understanding of the condition within hospitals and the struggle to be taken seriously when we do our own research online.
"Yeah I was lucky my little girl is here. I had multiple bleeds throughout the whole pregnancy. I had lots of little ones (bleeds) at the beginning and then went for 20 week scan everything was 'fine' and nothing was picked up. Then 21 weeks I had a bigger bleed, so I went into hospital for a few days and had a scan which was when they picked up that I had a bi lobed placenta previa. They said that it might move out of the way and i'd be seen again at 35 weeks. But then 28 weeks I had another bigger bleed and went into hospital. The doctor came to see me before I left and said that the bi-lobed placenta was still low and that I had VP (Vasa Praevia) but just not to heavy lift. He didn't seem concerned so I never thought about it again until 3 weeks later. I got up early with my youngest son and was bored so I googled what it was it was. It was only then that I realised how serious it was. I text Chantelle (her friend) in tears scared, rang the hospital and the midwife basically laughed and said that she highly doubted I did have it because of how rare it was."
STOP. The midwife laughed off Emily's concerns because of how rare the condition is. Firstly, Emily was firmly in several risk groups with having a bi lobed, low laying placenta which was compounded by many episodes of bleeding. Her scan technician had verbally told her that she had Vasa Praevia.
"...That was the Saturday so I decided on the Monday I was going to book in with my midwife and talk to her about it, but Monday morning I woke up thinking my waters had gone. When I pulled the quilt back I couldn't of been more wrong. The ambulance came and took me to hospital, I was taken to the delivery suite where the doctor came and said that I would have steroid injections and depending on the bleeding have a c section later that day. I asked her why and said what I had found online regarding VP. She told me that had no reason to believe I did have VP because there was nothing in my notes so the previous doctor had never written it in."
The previous doctor had not written it in. How many times does this happen? We know that Vasa Praevia is under reported, but just HOW under reported?
"...The bleeding slowed throughout the day, and 5 days later I was discharged but I demanded a scan which I had before I left. The sonographer said she had checked for VP but there wasn't one. I watched the scan and not once did I see her check but I wasn't a professional so knew I didn't have a leg to stand on. The next day my daughter's movements seemed to have dipped so I went back to hospital had another scan but it was a different lady this time. A lady I knew from my previous pregnancy and she was also the senior. So I explained everything that had happened and asked her if she would check to which she agreed - to to put my mind at rest. That was the best decision I made, because then my consultant came in apologised and said I would need to stay in until my daughter was here and said to have a section booked for 35 weeks."
So Emily was given false assurance by a technician who said she was looking for VP, but in reality was not. I've been talking to Emily via messenger and asked why she thought that the sonographer didn't check for VP. She replied,
"I'd already had two boys so I knew what each bit was. And she focused mostly on the baby and her growth. I saw her look briefly at the placenta but not once did she go low enough to see the cervix to see what was covering it. Plus I knew that to see a VP properly it should of been a colour Doppler, but she never used it."
"...At 34 and 5 I woke up early hours of the morning with that awful feeling between my legs. I didn't dare move and just pressed the buzzer. She (her daughter) was here within half an hour. And I was so relieved. I was lucky that I kept pushing because otherwise it could of been a different story. I am truely sorry for your loss, it is awful they don't check for VP and there is no real reason why they can't. I 100% back you with that they should be checking for it."
This cannot keep happening. Please keep on sharing and asking people to sign the petition to bring in routine screening on the NHS.
Thank you so much,
Sarah xx