A NEW mother has shared her experience of giving birth in west Wales, which almost proved fatal for both her and her new born son.

Bethany Rowley gave birth to her son Sebastian James Rowley in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday, December 4 after an ordeal which saw her battle with unbearable pain and travelling from Withybush to Glangwili in the back of an ambulance.

Bethany started experiencing abdominal pains she described as “excrutiating” at her home in Milford Haven on Monday, December 3.

“I was 37 weeks pregnant with our miracle IVF baby boy,” she said.

“Naturally, we assumed I was going into labour but it soon became evident that whatever was happening was developing very fast.”

Bethany’s husband Mike started to drive her to Glangwili Hospital from Milford Haven, but by the time the couple had reached Haverfordwest in the car, the pain was too much.

Mike and Bethany Rowley.

“It has been suggested over the years and through our IVF experiences that I have a fairly high pain threshold, so of course it was alarming to us that the onset of pain had increased so severely,” said Bethany.

Mike refused to drive her to Glangwili in case the situation became worse on the road, but at Withybush they were told to continue on to Carmarthen.

After a physical examination at Withybush’s Midwifery Led Unit, Bethany was told she was not yet in active labour.

She was then offered an ambulance to Glangwili, but threw up blood and passed out twice from the pain along the A40, with the crew having to pull over to bring her around.

At Glangwili she was given pain relief and was sent for an emergency C-Section in the early hours of Tuesday, December 4.

“[Sebastian] was unresponsive for nearly three minutes and given a lot of help to try to help him to breathe,” said Bethany.

“It was a traumatic experience for both myself, husband and family, as we watched our baby struggle to survive and take his first breaths.”

Sebastian was taken to the intensive care unit and transferring him to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff for further care was discussed.

Baby Sebastian was born in the early hours of the morning of Tuesday, December 4.

After days of specialist care his condition turned around and he was considered well enough to stay on the maternity ward with Bethany.

Bethany was told the cause of the pain was a placental abruption and any longer without being seen may have been fatal for both her and Sebastian.

The new mother said it was ludicrous services at Withybush had been cut and could not deal with emergencies like hers, but said all the staff she spoke to on the night had been amazing.

“It took us five years to get pregnant with our son, a lot of sacrifices and commitment to afford private IVF,” she said.

“Our journey has been incredibly hard, to be made much harder by our health services. It is an experience I would not wish upon anyone but fear will continue to rise.”