WHEN Keira Smith married her husband Shaun in 2013, she knew they were facing an uphill battle to have children naturally. He was taking medication that affected his fertility, so in 2018 Keira was delighted to get pregnant via IVF. However, 34 weeks later that joy turned to devastation when their baby Mali died three days after birth, due to medical negligence.
Keira, 39, who is sharing her story after a damning report found half of NHS maternity units are unsafe , told The Sun: “I met Shaun in 2009, and we had a fabulous life together, going to festivals and travelling. “Then in 2012, the year before we got married in Jamaica, he was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, a painful condition which causes red patches and sore joints. “He took Methotrexate to combat it, but knowing it could affect his fertility, we had sperm samples taken.
READ MORE ON HEALTH “We did try to conceive naturally, and Shaun came off medication, but was in immense pain so we had IVF via the NHS, at the Welsh Institute of Fertility in Cardiff. “It was about a year before I was at the point of having an embryo implanted, in spring 2018. “When it was successful, we were over the moon and – this is something I beat myself about for ages afterwards – I told people that it all seemed quite easy.
“I wasn’t that sick, and didn’t even feel that tired.” Most read in Health Because she was an IVF patient, Keira had regular check ups, and when she was just over 34 weeks, she saw a consult.