Heroic midwife’s quick thinking saves Louth woman’s baby

Adrian Collins-Anderson, Midwife Angela Chapman with Mollie-Ann, and Joanne Collins-Anderson.

A Louth mother has spoken of her relief and gratitude towards a local midwife whose quick-thinking saved her baby daughter’s life.

Joanne Collins-Anderson, 33, told the Leader the dramatic story of how she ended a ten day isolation period on September 29 after she and her whole family went down with Covid-19, only to be hit with another health crisis after sensing that her unborn daughter - still three weeks away from her due date - had unusually reduced movement and didn’t feel quite right.

Following a dramatic turn of events, and despite being just moments away from tragedy, Joanne’s baby was born happy and healthy - thanks to the actions of superhero midwife Angela Chapman.

Joanne said: “I was the last one [in my family] to come out of isolation on September 29. I had a really bad cough, hot sweats, and couldn’t get out of bed. We had to cancel scans, as I couldn’t go to the hospital due to being in isolation.

“The night before coming out of isolation, I noticed that the baby, which was normally very active, was not moving as much. I thought maybe she was just having a quiet night. But the next morning, something still didn’t feel right.”

Joanne was due to go into Grimsby Hospital for a growth scan that afternoon, but due to her concerns she called the hospital and was advised to go in early by midwife Angela Chapman - who would later become her saviour.

The monitor showed that the baby’s heartbeat was still fine at 11am, which was a relief to Joanne, and she returned home before heading back to the hospital for her growth scan appointment at 3pm.

During the afternoon appointment, Joanne said that the atmosphere didn’t seem normal and the sonographer seemed unusually quiet.

Afterwards, when Joanne was in the waiting area, the midwife Angela brought the scan paperwork out and “her face was just white” - before informing Joanne that her baby’s growth had stopped.

Although Joanne was due to have an appointment with the consultant two days later, Angela insisted that she would fetch the consultant straight away just to be on the safe side - a decision which would help to save the baby’s life.

Taking into account that Joanne had recently suffered with Covid-19, the consultant decided Joanne should have a ‘sweep’ and that labour would be induced the following day.