Kathy Nicholas Bougouneau died at the Mount St John’s Medical Centre, on Tuesday, just hours after giving birth to a baby girl, and her family is searching for answers to explain her demise.
Bougouneau, 36, of Dominica, was due to give birth on November 15. Relatives said she went to the hospital on two separate occasions to say she was ready to give birth, only to be told she should return later.
The dead woman’s aunt, Rosabel Baptiste said the expectant mother who was anxiously awaiting the birth of the baby said she did not wish to know the gender until the newborn’s birth.
“We just want to know why this had to happen. She was healthy. I took her to the clinic recently, her pressure was not high and her blood sugar was fine. All they told us was that she tore and they did everything they could to stop the bleeding, and they couldn’t,” Baptiste told OBSERVER media yesterday.
The Potters mother, who has an eight year- old daughter, gave birth naturally for the second time on Monday at 2:49 pm. However, by 7:07 am the next morning, she was dead.
Baptiste said the family is caught so off guard and they are still trying to piece the piece Bougouneau’s death, as they try to be a comfort to each other.
“We didn’t get the addition to the family we were hoping for, we got a replacement and all we can do is love this baby girl and try to give her the best life, possible. She was just expecting this surprise package of a wonderful baby,” Baptiste told OBSERVER media.
“She did everything in preparation for this baby. We had a baby shower when she was eight months pregnant and she walked every afternoon from mine to her home. We are so baffled by this.”
Baptiste said the baby girl was born “not breathing,” and had to be rushed to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where she remained up to yesterday.
The family is uncertain whether the mother every met her new baby girl.
The aunt said police are investigating the circumstance surrounding the Potters woman’s death. And while lawmen may be investigating, the family said they, too, have a lot of questions to ask.
“All we were told is that her pain level went from four to eight quickly and the baby came out fast and tore her womb, and they couldn’t stop the bleeding,” the grieving aunt revealed.
Sister, Merlyn Bougouneau, was too overcome with grief to speak, but, she, too, added that the family is demanding answers why the one sister she had residing in the Antigua had to die in hospital’s care, doing something many women do every day, globally. (The Daily Observer)
