Rachel contracted sepsis just before her baby was born, and thought life was over for little Kobe before it had even begun. 

David Young, 40, from Moulton in Northamptonshire, rushed fiancé, Rachel Evenden, 35, to Northamptonshire General Hospital in the early hours of 16 March to give birth to their long-awaited baby.

“After three miscarriages, our hope of having a baby together was looking remote at best. Thankfully the fourth time round we got past the second trimester and continued to have a reasonably straightforward third trimester, baby was head down, no concerns at any scan,” said David.

Rachel’s waters broke, and the couple took the usual precautions, phoning the hospital and waiting for the contractions to get closer and stronger before they made their way to the hospital. In the end, they made the journey twice.

David said, “We really came a little too early so we came home again but within a couple of hours we were back, contractions very strong and two minutes apart. Although Rachel was only one centimetre dilated, we stayed and went through the various checks which were all fine.”

But unfortunately, Rachel did not progress beyond three centimetres dilated, due to the baby making last-minute movements and her labour lasted 36 hours in total.

“The final four hours were truly terrifying! Rachel’s temperature spiked at 40.1 degrees almost instantly due to an infection. We do not know if this infection came from her waters breaking so long ago, from the failed epidural or some other way. The infection did not stay localised and became systemic very quickly, Rachel’s immune system went into hyperactive attack mode and failed to recognise her own cells from the infection and attacked itself. As is often the case, sepsis then developed.”

Rachel was a text book case of sepsis as David witnessed her symptoms of high temperature, muscular convulsions and her conviction that she was going to die.

“It was the latter that was so scary, Rachel was thrashing around screaming she was going to die, to the point she couldn’t be controlled. She demanded family members on the phone so she could tell them she loved them, absolutely convinced she was dying.”

Rachel was very ill at this stage, and had many medical staff all working on her at once. The lead doctor confirmed she had sepsis and antibiotics were to be administered. But just as Rachel started to stabilise, baby’s heartbeat began to drop and an emergency Caesarean section was begun. 

“I was removed from the operating room,” said David. “I do not know what happened during surgery other than Rachel had some major issues. She came through absolutely fine. Baby Kobe, he was born limp, blue and with no heartbeat. It took 12 minutes of resuscitation to get him breathing on his own.”

It was a week in the maternity high dependency unit before both Mum and baby were allowed home where they both went on to make full recoveries.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all involved in the birth of baby Kobe but especially midwife Lucy and student midwives Ella-Grace and Ellesha.”

David and Rachel’s family, including their children Rebecca, Kane and Kyra, were shocked when they found out the traumatic story of Rachel’s case of sepsis in labour.

David and Rachel, who work for the University of Northampton as lecturers in biochemistry and psychology, say their employer’s reaction and support has been “absolutely fantastic” and both he and Rachel have been offered indefinite counselling, which they are continuing to receive.

Rachel and David say that Sepsis Research FEAT has been able to help, and talking has helped them to recover, as well as the help they receive from friends and family.

David said about the original outlook, when Kobe was first born, that he thought: “Life was over for my baby before it had begun. Now I cherish every sleepless night”.

Rachel and David Sepsis Story, David and Rachel are now due to be married in August 2022.