NUH maternity review: Natalie and Dave's story
Their son Kouper died at home 24 hours after he was born.
Last updated 7th Sep 2022
At 1.44am on 20th July 2019, after a perfect pregnancy, Natalie Needham gave birth to her fifth child Kouper.
The new born let out a small cry and was placed on his mum's chest.
From that moment, Natalie knew something wasn't right.
"We kept saying that Kouper was very quiet, he didn't really move.
"We kept saying to the midwife, he's very blue.
"It was quite central on his face so around his nose and his mouth, and his lips were blue and his hands and feet were almost purple."
The midwife explained it was because Kouper was born too fast, and after a couple of hours, took Natalie, Dave and their new born up to the labour ward.
After having a shower, Natalie went to feed her new born son for the first time.
After trying multiple times, it became clear Kouper wasn't able to feed.
Despite the concerns raised by both Natalie and her husband Dave, the couple were discharged by midwives.
Three of her children were due to attend an awards ceremony at their dance school on the evening Kouper was born, and Natalie thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show off their new arrival.
"I'd promised the children that if I came home in time, I'd watch them get their awards.
"We went down there and Kouper got to meet 50 people that mean the absolute world to us.
"He got lots of cuddles and lots of face squidging and everybody telling me how gorgeous he was.
"Little did we know they would be the only people he would meet."
"He came running upstairs and all I heard was 'Nat I'm really sorry but he's dead'."
A few hours after coming home from the awards ceremony, Natalie's husband woke up to find Kouper dead in his moses basket.
"Dave woke up, and he said he just sat there and froze, waiting for his clothes to move with his breathing, and they didn't.
"He felt him and he was cold. So he picked him up and gave him a kiss and put him back down.
"He came running upstairs and all I heard was 'Nat I'm really sorry but he's dead'."
Despite their best efforts - and that of doctors and paramedics at the scene - nothing could bring their 7lbs 14oz baby back.
Sat in a room surrounded by memories of Kouper, Natalie tells us she feels staff didn't listen to her concerns:
"I just remember sitting in the hospital thinking, why didn't I do something more?
"I've always blamed myself because as a mum I knew there was something wrong. But, ultimately I listened to the professionals who told me he was fine.
"Everybody's attitude with me within the hospital was, come on you're an experienced mum, he's your fifth child, you should know how to feed a baby.
"But I sit back and look at it as, I'm a mum with four children, sat with my fifth child telling you that something's wrong.
"In my head that should have alarm bells ringing."
An inquest concluded Kouper died of respiratory complications.
The coroner criticised the trust's feeding policy at the time and noted the family were dissatisfied with Kouper's care.
Michelle Rhodes, Chief Nurse at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said:
“We are deeply sorry for the unimaginable distress that has been caused due to failings in our maternity services.
"We know that an apology will never be enough and we owe it to those who have been failed, those we’re caring for today and to our staff to deliver a better maternity service for our communities.
"We welcome Donna Ockenden and her team to Nottingham and will work with them to achieve this.”
Families seeking to contact the inquiry team can email nottsreview@donnaockenden.com