When she was in my womb, Little Judith was doing kickboxing, that much was obvious. She was full of energy, was moving frequently and was kicking hard. But at 37 weeks of pregnancy, I started noticing that my kickboxing baby was moving less frequently and kicking less hard.
Though slightly worried, I decided to wait a few days to speak with my doctor during my routine scheduled appointment. The doctor listened to a few heartbeats and told me it was normal to feel the baby move less towards the end of pregnancy. Reassured, I returned home.
Two days later, I could no longer feel my baby move. My husband and I made our way to the hospital but it was already too late: Little Judith’s heart had stopped beating. On Sept. 18, 2012, I delivered a baby girl, stillborn at 38 weeks of pregnancy. The autopsy report revealed that Little Judith was healthy and died from asphyxia, i.e., a lack of oxygen, caused by an inflammation of the umbilical cord. I now know that had I gone to the hospital a week sooner, Little Judith would probably be alive today.
In 2018, a House of Commons standing committee heard powerful witness testimonies from parents who, like me, have been affected by pregnancy and infant loss on what the government could do to ensure parents no longer suffer undue financial or emotional hardships after such a loss. Unfortunately, it did not lead to any concrete action. Moreover, the committee did not address what the government could do to prevent some of those losses from ever happening.
That same year, the Australian Senate established the Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education to report on the future of stillbirth research and education in Australia. In its report, the committee concluded:
“Stillbirth is one of the most devastating and profound events that any parent is ever likely to experience. It is 30 times more common than Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) but stillbirth receives far less public or government attention than other infant and childhood deaths. Stillbirth is a hidden tragedy. The culture of silence around stillbirth means that parents and families who experience it are less likely to be prepared to deal with the personal, social and financial consequences. This failure to regard stillbirth as a public health issue also has significant consequences for the level of funding available for research and education, and for public awareness of the social and economic costs to the community as a whole.”
Similar to Australia, stillbirth is a public health issue that is neglected, invisible and absent in current Canadian public policies. Every year in Canada, more than 3,000 babies die in their mothers’ wombs. That’s 8.4 stillbirths every day. Research presented to the Australian committee estimated that for each stillbirth, there are another 99 births that narrowly avoided ending in death. In 2016, The Lancet published its series on ending preventable stillbirths, issuing a call to action for high-income countries as evidence shows that their stillbirth rate can be reduced further. For example, the Netherlands has reduced its stillbirth rate by an average of 6.8 per cent a year between 2000 and 2015 and Scotland saw a 19.5 per cent reduction in stillbirths between 2012 and 2015. In comparison, Canada’s stillbirth rate has not significantly improved in more than 20 years.
Countries that have taken action all have one central element to their strategies, and that is the implementation of care and education “bundles,” packages of information aimed at improving women’s health and pregnancy care. The Saving Babies’ Lives bundle, for example, contributed to a 20 per cent decrease in those maternity units in England where it was deployed. Australia is currently drafting its National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan that includes the Safer Baby Bundle and aims to reduce rates of stillbirth by 20 per cent or more over five years.
Raising awareness among pregnant women of the significance of fetal movements during the third trimester is an important component of care bundles. As Alexander Heazell, director of U.K.’s Tommy’s Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, explained at the 2011 Stillbirth Summit, the association between reduced fetal movements (RFM) and stillbirth has been known for years, but the importance of monitoring fetal movement is not communicated to all mothers and intervention by clinicians is not optimal. As I have found first-hand, this is still the case in Canada despite a 2007 recommendation from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada that all pregnant women be made aware of the significance of fetal movements in the third trimester and seek medical attention in case of RFM. Evidently, more concrete action is needed.
And Canada must act! That is why I have initiated a petition on the House of Commons website asking the Government of Canada to follow the lead of the aforementioned countries and take action to end preventable stillbirths in Canada. More specifically, the government should put in place:
1) A national committee to study stillbirth as a public health issue and make recommendations for reducing the number of cases; and
2) A national awareness campaign, similar to the one for SIDS, to inform pregnant women of the risk of stillbirth and the importance of fetal movement during the third trimester.
The petition is open until Feb. 4, 2021. We must tell the government that stillbirth is a national public health issue that needs to be addressed now. No parent should live through the death of their baby if that death can be prevented.
The comments section is closed.
It’s a very SAD time when a parent loses a child in anyway! My good friend went thru this and our hearts break for them, and everyone who goes thru this
stillbirth is a national public health issue that needs to be addressed now. No parent should live through the death of their baby if that death can be prevented.
I know someone deeply affected!
Rip baby Avery ♥️
Thank you for all your efforts. I had no idea how prevalent the occurrence of stillbirths was until it happened to a close friend. Sadly, many others then shared their painful journey. You have embraced a very important issue. Thank you once again.
I have not experienced this loss & can’t begin to remotely know the depth of the pain it renders. The research will hopefully answer so many unanswered questions.
Thank you for standing up for families like mine.
Thank you for standing up for families like mine.
This is a much needed topic of conversation. Thank you for bringing it out into the open where it belongs. Women need to know how often this happens. We lost our grandson to stillbirth and the effects of that have devastated our family.
It does not cease to amaze me how with all the medical science we have, the loss of my infant daughter and subsequent stillbirth at 32 weeks still remains “unexplained”. More research is needed, prevention is needed. There is no reason this issue should not be prioritized.
I support this 100%. My second daughter was stillborn in 1996 at 39 weeks.
Pleased to see the work done on stillbirth. I am an obstetrical nurse recently retired and also a bereaved mother of a neonate. For over thirty years I have worked with families experiencing perinatal loss. I am a Resolve through sharing coordinator and a Canadian trainer for Baby Loss Doulas through Sherokee Ilse. Additionally I have presented nationally three times in Perinatal LOA’s. If I can be of any assistance to you please feel free to contact me. Danitalang@sasktel.net. Again many thanks for your work in this very important topic.
Yes, bring awareness to this issue. My city had zero support for me when I needed it!
This is a much needed topic of conversation. Thank you for bringing it out into the open where it belongs. Women need to know how often this happens. We lost our grandson to stillbirth and the effects of that have devastated our family.
Thank you for putting this out there. Definitely needs to be something done. I still feel the loss everyday. I was 36wks 4 days. I support this 200%.
I support this 200% and hope that there can be more awareness and funds allocated to stillbirths. Thank you for doing research and encouraging Canada to follow similar footsteps that are proven already to make a change in death rates. This is a step in the right direction. Still baffled that there has not been anything done sooner about this. The pain is as equivalent to losing a child to SIDS. There should be more awareness.
Thank you for spearheading this very important effort to help protect babies and their families from the devastating tragedy of stillbirth!