A Mother’s Heartbreaking Photo Of Stillborn Son Touches The World

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What should have been a day filled with happiness and new beginnings was the day that Kristy Watson’s son was born and turned out to be the worst day of her life.

It was a day that should never have happened and, 4 months later, she still agonises about how it did.

Kristy recently opened up to New Idea. 

“I kept going to the hospital, telling people I was worried but nobody listened,” she tells New Idea.

“I know doctors are tired and hospitals are overrun but unfortunately that took the life of my son.”

 Kristy from Victoria had undiagnosed pre-eclampsia, a very serious condition of pregnancy which can threaten the lives of both Mom and baby.

“From 26 weeks I knew something was wrong,” she says. “My feet were swollen and I had really bad headaches but the doctors kept sending me away telling me to take Panadol.”

At 29 weeks pregnant she was showing all the symptoms of  of pre-eclampsia yet she was still repeatedly sent home from hospital.

“I was a young, single Mother,” she says. “I felt so stupid going in all the time and they kept telling me I was fine. I thought they must know what they were doing.”

But at 32 weeks Kristy, who had already suffered three devastating miscarriages, knew things were really bad.

“I was calling around other doctors and other hospitals. I wanted someone to listen to me,” she says. “I was in so much pain and then about 4am I stopped feeling him move. I drove myself to hospital and even then I think I knew.”

Later that morning it was confirmed.

“A nurse sat on the end of my bed and told me my precious little Kaycen no longer had a heartbeat,” she says. “No words you ever want to hear, no words you ever imagine hearing so far into your pregnancy.”

Kristy was quickly diagnosed and treated for pre-eclampsia but she also had to give birth to her sleeping son.

“My bestfriends, my mum, sisters, dad, everyone was there with me,” she says. “Afterwards I held him the whole night and then everyone had a cuddle before I had to give him up.”

Despite the heartache in the days after his death, Kristy felt she wanted to do something in Kaycen’s memory.

“He died so I could live,” she says. “My kidneys were failing, my blood pressure was so high it nearly caused me to have a stroke or seizure, my body was fighting so hard for too long to keep my boy alive that it took his life in order to keep mine. It made me feel like I must have a purpose.”

And so she shared her story that went viral with thousands of people sharing.

“I want people to know my story so they know when there gut is telling them that something is not right to fight for answers, to travel back and forth until they know what is going on, to make sure they are listened too because I now have to go home to a nursery full of everything I needed to raise my little boy now to a empty cot that my son never got to lay in, to books I never got to read him, to his favourite outfit I never got to dress him in all because I was not heard,” she wrote.

And in raising awareness of both pre-eclampsia and to trust your gut, Kristy has already saved lives.

“One lady messaged me to say because of my post her sister and nephew are alive,” she told New Idea. “I know my little Kaycen will live on through me and everyone’s hearts he touched.”

Images: New Idea