Lindsey Devlin’s daughter died aged one day old
A heartbroken mum said she “still doesn’t have the answers” as to why her baby died one day after being born. When Lindsey Devlin, from Moreton, found out she was expecting her first child with partner Chris Pagett, it came as a surprise to them both.
Having just started a new job, in the process of moving house and having a trip to America booked, the Wirral couple said they weren’t planning to become pregnant however both were excited to become parents.
The 35-year-old mum told the ECHO: “I had a really easy pregnancy. She was my first pregnancy and our first child. I didn’t know what to expect, but I just sailed through. I was travelling around LA and Vegas when I was seven months pregnant and had no problems. It was really straightforward and easy for us.”
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Lindsey went into labour at 39 weeks when she was at her own home. She recalled how her contractions at first were “really far apart”, but within the space of 20 minutes, “something obviously went very wrong”.
She said: “The pain was just back-to-back. It was just constant. We were rushed to hospital by ambulance and Elise was delivered without a heartbeat. She was resuscitated, and she went to a natal ward for just over a day. It was here that she passed away.
“Still, to this day, we have no idea what happened or what went wrong. We never got answers and still don’t have them. She was full-term, super healthy and the test all came back to suggest nothing was wrong within the pregnancy or with Elise herself. I don’t know what happened, we don’t know what happened, nobody knows. It’s a question we will never know the answer to.”
Elsie Pagett was born on Friday, August 3 and died on Saturday, August 4. Both Lindsey and Chris decided to go home after Elise died rather than staying in the hospital.
They went home to a house full of newborn essentials, including a moses basket in the living room, Elsie’s pram in the hall, and balloons left over from a baby shower Lindsey’s work had recently thrown for her.
Lindsey added: “At the time, we always just said Elise always took her answers with her. She was a drama queen, and she didn’t want to leave us with answers. I was at peace with not having the answers and that it just happened to be that something really bad happened to us.”
Lindsey explained how she maintained this mindset until she fell pregnant with her first rainbow baby, Toby, who is now four-years-old. The couple has since gone onto have another two rainbow boys, two-year-old Jesse and one-year-old and Jacob.
She said: “When I got pregnant with Toby, my first rainbow, my anxiety was crazy. I assumed it was just going to happen again – because why wouldn’t it? That’s all we knew. It was a situation we had no control over.”
When Elsie died, family, friends, and the local community donated money to help the family during their difficult time. Lindsey decided to use the money to set up the baby loss charity Elsie’s Moon. Sharing her story during National Awareness Week, Lindsey and teacher Chris’ initiative supports families when pregnancy doesn’t go to plan by making both comfort and early loss packs for parents.
The charity also hosts one-off sessions, including crafts, memory making and walks to continue with their journey in “breaking the silence around fertility, loss and trauma” – providing a safe place surrounded by those who “get it”.
Lindsey said: “Baby Loss Awareness Week is a really important time to raise awareness and to honour our little ones who passed away. Elsie’s Moon is about creating a support network and community so that people don’t have to grieve alone.
“I’m really proud of what Elsie’s Moon has achieved in Elsie’s memory and of the support we’ve given. There’s nothing that can take away the pain of losing a child; it’s indescribable, but we can certainly raise more awareness and provide more support to families during this time.”
