Woman shares photos of her stillborn son to warn mums about doctors who say 'everything's fine'

Kristy Watson went through a harrowing experience earlier this year. Now she has a message to all mothers out there.

Watson, 20, shared a lengthy post on Facebook earlier this week. The post fully broke down the gut-wrenching story of Watson's stillborn son Kaycen.

Born at 32 weeks, the boy died as a result of pre-eclampsia of Watson. She had no knowledge about the sickness and remained undiagnosed for weeks.

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According to the Daily Mail, this was the young mother's four pregnancy. The first three ended in miscarriages. So the Victoria woman was elated with her "miracle baby."

But Watson had to endure week-long headaches, blurry vision, and swelling in her hands and feet for months.

"I was so swollen that my shoes didn't fit, my face was puffy and I couldn't see my ankles," she said.

The former cafe worker went to doctors a number of times to report her symptoms, but she was dismissed by everyone each time.

The medical authorities whom Watson wanted to trust instead disregarded her problems, labeling them as normal pregnancy problems. One gave her Panadol for the headaches.

Just before the 32-week mark, Watson finally heard the suggestion that she might have pre-eclampsia. Yet she was still dismissed without a proper check.

"My midwife told me to come into the hospital and that was the first time that the doctor told me it could be pre-eclampsia, to watch the swelling and to come back in if it got any worse."

At 32 weeks, things took a horrific turn. Watson explained:

"I was in a lot of pain the night before and I thought it was him just burying himself down but after the pain stopped, he bulged out of my tummy and my stomach became very hard."

She continued:

"I called my midwife at four in the morning and then drove to the hospital myself. They couldn’t find his heartbeat and that’s when I knew in my mind that he had passed - but it wasn’t until they did his first ultrasound that I could see his heart was no longer beating."

On July 27, Watson delivered her stillborn son. The cause was pre-eclampsia, a devastating illness that threatens both a mother and her unborn child's lives.

In addition to the other symptoms, Watson had suffered from high blood pressure and pain in her upper rib.

She spent three days in the hospital with her son before his funeral. She bathed him, held him close, and mourned his death. Unfortunately, Watson remembered little of the precious time she spent with her son.

"I was very dosed up on morphine my whole labor so unfortunately, I do not remember a lot after labor. I know I got to bath him and I had cuddled him all night."

But Watson's battle was not over. She described how she herself came extremely close to death:

"I had to be told the day after I had him that my bloods were so toxic they nearly killed me and that my kidney and liver were shutting down."

Watson expressed that had it not been for her son's death, she may not be living:

"My blood pressure was so high it nearly caused me to have a stroke or seizure, my body was fighting so hard for so long to keep my boy alive that it took his life in order to keep mine."

Watson started a Facebook page named "Kristy Watson - The Angel Mumma," to get her through the pain. She also encouraged mothers to listen to their gut.

"If only they had done an ultrasound that day to see that my placenta was failing, if only they had done my blood to see how toxic my bloods really were at that stage. It may not have changed the outcome of what happened but the thing is I will never ever know.

"I don't want this to be looked at as a blame on anyone. I want people to know what I went through and in any way help prevent such a thing happening to someone else.

"I want people to know my story so they know when their gut is telling them that something is not right, to fight for answers, to make sure they are listened to because I now have to go home to a nursery full of everything I needed to raise my little boy.

"I lost my gorgeous little boy due to the system letting me down and not listening to me when I knew something was wrong."

Watson shared heartwrenching photos on Facebook which moved many to read about her cause.

But back in April 2018, another young mother named Zariah Jackson shared photos of her stillborn child and received backlash.

A young Florida mother hit back at criticism of the pictures, saying "my baby has every right to be shown off by his mother just like a baby who was living."

Despite the hateful messages, Jackson said the photos helped her deal with her loss. She now advocates for pregnancy and infancy loss awareness.

Another mom named Sarah Jade decided to document when she gave birth to her stillborn son. She says the photos helped her cope as well.