‘No one wants to talk death when you’re bringing life into the world’

At 41 weeks pregnant Heidi Mules was preparing for the imminent birth of her daughter. Then her doctor said she couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat.

IT was the one thing that could have potentially saved baby Sophie, and now there are federal plans to help address Australia’s “unacceptable” high rate of stillbirth.

Heidi and Ned Mules tragically lost their second daughter Sophie at 41-weeks after an unexpected shock when Sophie’s heartbeat couldn’t be found.

“We weren’t informed of all the facts – that’s the only way Sophie could have been saved, as it turns out she was completely normal, beautiful, healthy.”

These are the words of a mother who would now have a seven-year-old daughter if it wasn’t for lack of information surrounding her otherwise perfect pregnancy.

Heidi Mules (left) with husband Ned and children Amelie, 9, Max, 6, and Zara, 4. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Gosling

To mark International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, Health Minister Greg Hunt will today launch the Safer Baby Bundle to help unite mothers and the medical community to stop up to 200 preventable and tragic stillbirths each year.

Six babies are stillborn every day in Australia, despite research showing up to 30 per cent of stillbirths could be prevented through better health care. The Bundle, which will be launched in federal Parliament, is designed to reduce stillbirth rates after 28 weeks gestation by at least 20 per cent by 2023.

The Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence says in up to half of stillbirths there is evidence of “inadequate or inappropriate care, and in 20-30 per cent of stillbirths the death is preventable had care been as it should have been”.

Ms Mules, of Brisbane, was one of the many women who believes she did not receive adequate care for her second pregnancy. Sophie was due on December 8, 2011.

As Ms Mules felt Sophie grow, with all signs of a low-risk pregnancy, little did they both know they were heading for tragedy.

Following a discussion with her obstetrician toward the end of the pregnancy, Ms Mules was told if the baby was not born on the due date, she would have two options – induce on the due date or induce a week later. Ms Mules says no risks were discussed with her and her husband Ned, despite her being 38-years-old at the time.

A cast of Sophie’s hands and feet were taken when she was born. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Gosling

“I’ve worked in maternity hospitals before and I remember saying to the obstetrician, ‘well, everyone knows it’s better to wait for the labour to come on spontaneously… so let’s wait until a week after my due date and give the baby the best chance to come on her own’, and that was the end of the conversation,” she said.

“I don’t remember feeling Sophie move in the morning, but that wasn’t alarming for me because she was often not that active in the morning which was normal for her.

“I describe the feeling I had when she (obstetrician) couldn’t find her heartbeat was that feeling you get when you’re searching through your handbag trying to find your wallet, and you can’t find it and you just have that little panic, but 30 seconds later you find it.

“And so I remember looking at Ned, just sort of smiling, it just was not on my radar.

“No one wants to talk about death when you’re about to bring life into the world.”

Now, the mother of three is advocating for change, saying the topic should not be taboo and instead talked about even as early as pre-conception.

“I’m really passionate about Safe Baby Bundle because my only risk was my age,” she said. “I believe it should have been discussed with me that I did have a risk factor for stillbirth because stillbirth was not on my radar, in my mind it just does not happen to people in 2011, it was just something so far from my thought.”