Heartbroken campaigner speaks of her miscarriage grief

Louise Caldwell and her husband Craig. Photo: NHS Lanarkshire

A former Shetland resident is campaigning for baby loss rooms to be installed in all maternity hospitals across the country.

Louise Caldwell, who used to live in Bressay and Lerwick, had two miscarriages and was forced to have a stillbirth on one occasion in a labour ward, where other parents were welcoming healthy babies.

Mrs Caldwell, 41, and her husband eventually had a child together – with the full pregnancy spent in Shetland before giving birth on the mainland in 2017.

Ever since, Mrs Caldwell has been championing for women to be treated with dignity should they have the same experiences as she had.

The campaign was about “common sense and human rights”, but she said she was unable to bring about change on her own.

“I’m just a mammy from East Kilbride,” Mrs Caldwell told The Shetland Times.

While on a trip to Blackpool during the October holidays before moving to the isles, Mrs Caldwell said she knew the baby’s heart had stopped beating — days before her 12-week scan.

But even when she got the confirmation when she went to what was then called Wishaw General Hospital the following week, she was still in “shock”.

“On the way from my scan to the room in the hospital that was when I had to pass a woman who was sitting on a bed with a big, massive bump,” she recalled.

“She was hearing the baby’s heartbeat, and she was hooked up to the monitor.

“And then, when I went outside, there was a woman sitting with a big, massive bump, and little kiddies playing in the wee kid area.

“So you’re having to pass all that when you’ve literally just been told the news that there’s no heartbeat.”

Later the same day, Mrs Caldwell was taken to the back of the ward – past all of the rooms with expecting mothers – to have the stillbirth.

“I’m constantly grieving, and I’m constantly grieving for other women,” she added.

Since her experience, Mrs Caldwell’s campaign caught the eye both locally, in Lanarkshire, and at a national level.

NHS Lanarkshire’s University Hospital Wishaw – formerly known as Wishaw General – became the first in Scotland to open a bereavement suite last year.

The unit allows women to deliver stillborn babies in a separate location to labour wards. The rooms have a separate entrance, a dedicated midwife and are set away from a clinical environment.

Lerwick’s Gilbert Bain Hospital followed suit, opening the Northern Star suite a few months later.

Ahead of the 2021 Scottish election, representatives from the Scottish National Party (SNP) had become sympathetic to Mrs Caldwell’s campaign – even including a promise in their manifesto.

The SNP pledged to improve women’s healthcare in a number of ways but had stated that if elected it would “establish a dignified, compassionate miscarriage service,” and ensure “maternity departments have dedicated facilities for women who are experiencing unexpected pregnancy complications.”

Since being elected, that pledge has not been kept, with less than two years to go before another polling day.

Now, Mrs Caldwell has decided to enlist people from across Scotland to join in her fight for the compassion and dignity that women deserve.

“Now, I’m angry,” she said. “It’s something we need to get done for females.”

She has written templates of letters to send to elected representatives to urge them to support her campaign.

Mrs Caldwell added: “I can only do so much.”

To read more pick up a copy of The Shetland Times.