When British couple Alicia Kiernan, 24, and Cairon Booth, 28, learned they were expecting after two years of trying to fall pregnant, they were completely over the moon.
But early on in the pregnancy, Kiernan experienced bleeding and after 24 hours of waiting in a hospital emergency room, she was told the devastating news that her baby no longer had a heartbeat.
"They said I was seven weeks plus and that there was no foetal heartbeat," Alicia told The Sun, adding that she "completely broke down" upon hearing the news.
Heartbroken, Kiernan, from Nottingham, decided to take the incredibly difficult next step.
"I chose to have an operation to remove the baby," she said. "I didn't want to wait for it to pass, I wasn't strong enough."
But when Kiernan told her mother what was happening, she realised that her dates and the hospital's dates didn't match.
"My mum kept saying that their dates didn't match up with my dates. I rang my doctor—their dates and mine were completely off."
Meanwhile, as she was still experiencing "violent" morning sickness, Kiernan soon became convinced something wasn't quite right. So before undergoing the operation, she requested another scan.
"I had the scan and the lady said she needed to go and get her colleague," she said. "The lady came in and said there was a heartbeat and I was still pregnant."
Kiernan realised what had gone wrong: she was only six weeks and two days pregnant, meaning that at her scan just days earlier, it was too early to detect her baby's heartbeat.
Despite being overjoyed at the news that she is going to be a mother, Kiernan remains angry at the doctors who made the mistake. "I was hours away from having my baby killed for their mistake," she said.
"I was really angry with them. If I had not pushed for that scan they would have just gone through with it."
Kiernan—now 20 weeks into her pregnancy—says the ordeal has left her feeling anxious about becoming a mother. "It has traumatised me," she said.
"Every scan we go to I am panicking and stressing. It has caused me to have anxiety problems," she added. "I feel like this has taken some of the fun away of being pregnant."
The hospital, Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, told The Sun in a statement that Kiernan's story is a "very rare" incident.
"Scan results can be misinterpreted and additional tests are offered where there is uncertainty," said Dr. Jonathan Evans, the Divisional Director of the Family Health Division at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
"The Trust reiterates its apology and continues to offer support to this family."
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Top Comments
The same happened with my first child. Mistakes happen, trust your instincts, ask for second opinion. She turned eighteen last month.
Whilst I am thrilled they avoided her mistake, how could she not know that at 6 weeks you can't detect the baby's heart beat?? A quick google will tell you that. Why on earth would you book in for the D&C without having another scan at around 7.5 weeks? Not to mention that if the hospital had her dates totally wrong she should immediately have picked up on that too. Total administrative error on the part of the hospital that could have been unforgivably disastrous - but people also need to take responsibility for their own health.