Mum convinced she wasn’t pregnant after multiple negative tests gives birth on toilet – but her baby daughter dies 16 days later

A MUM who didn't know she was pregnant gave birth on the toilet – but her baby girl passed away 16 days later.

Tasha Limbert, 25, from York, first took two pregnancy tests in July 2015 after her mum Sabrina noticed her stomach “looked a bit rounded”, but they both came back negative.

Three months later, Tasha, who is also mum to Savannah, three, visited her GP after feeling nauseous and bloated.

“I put it down to a bug, only in the weeks that followed I was constantly sick and my tummy was uncomfortable,” she said.

“I went to see my GP who diagnosed gastroenteritis. But when I was still feeling awful two weeks later I went back.”

The doctor made Tasha do two more pregnancy tests – both of which came back negative. Medics then put her symptoms down to Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Tasha said: “While I waited to go back to the GP I took two more pregnancy tests just in case, but again, they were negative.

“Back at the surgery, three months after my first appointment, I was given one more pregnancy test and a prescription for anti-bloating medication.”

Tasha, fearing that something was not right, returned to her GP on December 1, 2015, and requested a stomach scan. Instead, she was give tablets to help with the pain and told to return in the New Year if things had not improved.

“I went home and started taking the medication. I’d been told it could cause stomach cramps, so when I started getting twinges in my stomach a few days later I put it down to that,” she said.

“Only, the pains got stronger and more frequent. Soon, I was struggling to walk.”

At 3.30am on December 8, 2015, Tasha was in agony. Her mum, sister Mara and brother Ben were fast asleep. After feeling the urge to push, she rushed to the toilet.

“Something very strange happened. There was a pop, then I felt something hot between my legs,” she said. “In a panic, I put my hands under my bum and felt something slippery.

“What the hell is happening? I thought, as it dawned on me that there was a baby in the toilet.  I scooped the baby out from underneath me.  The cord was wrapped around the neck so I quickly pulled the head free.  Then, with the baby in one hand, I phoned an ambulance with the other.”

The ambulance sirens woke up Tasha's family who rushed into the bathroom. Paramedics took Tasha to the hospital. While the baby was examined, she named her daughter Alexis.

Tasha said: “My family and I were shocked, but happy. By the time we came home two days later, friends and family rallied around to buy everything we needed for my little bundle, and Alexis settled in perfectly.

“With Christmas coming, the house was decorated and the tree was up. I couldn’t wait for my first Christmas with my two gorgeous girls. Alexis was an easy baby, but she was often sick so the GP diagnosed colic and gave us medication which seemed to help.”

Tasha took Alexis, then 15 days old, to the GP on December 23, 2015, after noticing her breathing had become raspy. The GP checked the baby and sent them home, but that evening Alexis refused to sleep.

Tasha said: “At about midnight I took her up to bed with me and gave her a bottle. Then I put her in the Moses basket and tried to sleep.  At 6am on Christmas Eve I woke with a start. It was time for her next bottle so I sat up.

“Only as I glanced into the Moses basket my heart jumped into my mouth. Alexis was grey and her skin was covered with beads of sweat.”

Tasha phoned for an ambulance. She and her daughter were they rushed to York District Hospital.

“My baby was taken straight to resuscitation while I was told to wait in a family room,” she said.

Half an hour later, a student nurse told Tasha that Alexis had sadly passed away. “I crumbled to a heap on the ground a sobbed.  I’d only had my girl for 16 days – how could she be gone?  The pain was so intense I couldn’t move so the nurse and a paramedic helped me back inside,” she said.

Tasha and her mum said goodbye to Alexis. Tasha said: “We went home in a total state of shock. We’d just got used to having Alexis, and now she’d been taken. It just didn’t make sense.

"That night, I put an excited Savannah to bed. ‘Sleep well and Father Christmas will come,’ I said, tears rolling down my cheeks. I wanted to put on a brave face for her, but inside my heart was breaking.

“In the morning, I sobbed while Savannah opened her presents. Looking at the pure joy on her face I wished I was blissfully ignorant about what had happened too.  I wanted to go and see Alexis in the mortuary but we were told the hospital didn’t have the staff.”

On May 19, 2016, Tasha was told that Alexis had contracted viral and bacterial bronchiolitis and bronchopneumonia, which had caused her death.

Hayley Owen Funeral Directors in York organised Alexis' funeral free of charge.

Tasha said: “Saying goodbye to our surprise daughter was the hardest day of my life, but I also felt so grateful for the 16 days we had with her. They were the best 16 days of my life.

“Now, I’m raising money for a new bereavement suite for York District Hospital, so other mums get a chance to say a proper goodbye to their little angels.”