Pregnant mum unexpectedly dies during C-section birth of baby daughter

A mother who had a “normal pregnancy with no complications” was in labour for one hour when she had a seizure that ultimately ended her life.

A new dad’s life is in pieces after his fiancee died giving birth to their first child.

The little girl Shelly Cockburn (pronounced Coburn) had already named Kora survived, and her grieving father Kirk Ross has given up work to raise the infant without her mother.

Mr Ross, 34, has told the Weekend Herald of the horrifying moments inside the birthing room when it all went wrong — after a normal pregnancy with no complications.

Mr Ross, Ms Cockburn’s mother Hine and the midwife were in the delivery suite at Tauranga Hospital in New Zealand on September 10 when the tragedy struck after 3am, the NZ Herald reports.

“We went in to have baby and she was going through the labour and she said her chest hurt.

“That’s when she had a fit, a sort of seizure,” Mr Ross said.

“She had been labouring for about an hour. Everything was going good. She was pushing with the contractions.

“When she had her seizure or fit they hit an emergency button and all the doctors came running in.”

Mr Ross and Ms Hine left the room as doctors worked to save the 29-year-old mother and baby.

“I was just scared really,” he said.

“I didn’t really know what was happening.”

Shelly Cockburn, 29, was excited about the birth of her first child but never lived to see her baby daughter Kora. Picture: Facebook

Doctors asked for permission to perform a caesarean section to get Kora out.

“That was the best chance of reviving Shelly,” Mr Ross said.

Kora was born healthy and doctors quickly began CPR on Ms Cockburn. Mr Ross and Ms Hine waited anxiously outside the room for about 20 minutes before a doctor broke the devastating news.

“They just came out and said unfortunately they couldn’t revive her and she didn’t make it.

“We burst into tears. It was very unexpected.”

Mr Ross said doctors told him they thought it was an embolism.

Mr Ross, who worked at Port of Tauranga as a forklift driver, said he was taking it “day by day”.

“I don’t really know how I’m coping at the moment. I don’t really know where to move on from here. It’s pretty hard. It still doesn’t really feel real,” he said.

He remains at his parents’ family home in Maketu where the couple had been living. The couple were meant to be moving into a house this weekend, one Mr Ross’ parents were going to help them buy from a family trust.

“I can’t really do that now,” he said.

Kirk Ross and three-week-old daughter Kora Cockburn-Ross. Fiancee Shelly Cockburn died while giving birth to the couple's daughter at Tauranga Hospital. Picture: Alan Gibson

Ms Cockburn’s parents will also help care for newborn Kora.

The sweethearts met while working in the kiwifruit industry in Paengaroa in 2007 and had been engaged for three years.

Mr Ross and Ms Cockburn, who had only returned to New Zealand from five years living in Perth in March, were also planning their wedding next year.

“We hadn’t decided where. We were waiting until the baby was born,” Mr Ross said.

His fiancee had been excited about the impending arrival of their daughter in the weeks leading up to the birth. She loved babies and was very family-oriented, Mr Ross said.

Ms Cockburn’s family, from Pukehina, a tiny beach settlement south of Papamoa in the Bay of Plenty, declined a post-mortem examination.

Mr Ross had not met with the District Health Board (DHB) over his fiancee’s death but was offered grief counselling that he had not yet taken up.

Bay of Plenty DHB midwifery leader Kirsty Rance expressed her condolences and said because Ms Cockburn’s death had been referred to the coroner she could not comment on the cause but confirmed the DHB investigated all unexpected, serious events.

Mr Ross said his partner of 12 years Ms Cockburn was beautiful and made him laugh. Now he faces life without her. Picture: Givealittle

That process had now begun though no immediate risks had been identified after Ms Cockburn’s death.

Ms Rance said the senior obstetrician involved met with Ms Cockburn’s family that day and offered to meet again, with the invitation remaining open.

Ms Rance said maternal deaths during pregnancy and birth were rare. There were 2700 births at Tauranga Hospital each year.

In the just released 13th Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee report that holds the latest data on mother and baby deaths and baby brain injuries in pregnancy, childbirth and post-partum, it shows on average 10 mothers die each year nationally from pregnancy-related causes.

Since the PMMRC began investigations in 2006, 13 women had died from an amniotic fluid embolism around the time of childbirth.

“This is a rare pregnancy complication that occurs when the fluid that surrounded the baby during pregnancy enters the mother’s bloodstream and causes an allergic reaction,” according to the Health Quality and Safety Commission New Zealand website.

Mr Ross described Ms Cockburn as a great partner.

“She was beautiful. She had a great smile, and she was always happy. She always made me laugh,” he said.

Ms Cockburn’s Maori funeral was held on the weekend after her death, and she is buried at the Oreiwhata cemetery at Pukehina.

A Givealittle page set up by Ms Cockburn’s cousin has raised more than $16,000, and Mr Ross said he would use the money to raise Kora and stay on paternity leave.

Ms Cockburn’s cousin Ricky Edwards wrote on her Givealittle page: “She had the biggest heart and absolutely adored her fiance Kirk who was right by her side in what should have been the happiest day of their life.

“Shelly would have been an amazing mother. She leaves behind her loving little family that will never forget her.”

Tributes flowed on social media for Ms Cockburn at the time of her death.

Her cousin, Bay of Plenty Volcanix rugby player Anahera Mohi, posted of her loss on Instagram.

“You were an angel on earth,” she said.

Five weeks earlier Mohi posted a photo of herself and a smiling, pregnant Ms Cockburn.

“Hope baby is blessed enough to have a best friend like I have in you, raised as cousin but a love like sisters. So excited to love her,” she wrote.

Ms Cockburn replied: “Love you forever and always cousin.”

This article originally appeared on NZ Herald and was reproduced with permission