I starved my unborn baby to death after gastric bypass op… and the guilt has destroyed me
A MUM who suffered extreme complications after gastric bypass surgery has been left racked with guilt, convinced that she starved her unborn baby to death.
Becky Crawford, 29, from Sutton-in-Craven, was warned by her GP that she was so overweight she could be "dead by 40" if she didn’t have the operation in May 2016.
But it left her extremely nauseous and unable to eat more than a mouthful of pureed food a day - and she almost died after suffering a major bleed in her bowel.
Three months after the surgery she discovered she was six weeks pregnant, but she lost the baby at 17 weeks.
Becky said she is certain the operation led to her much-wanted little boy’s death because she was so thin and malnourished that she couldn’t carry him to term.
She gave birth to stillborn Billy Joe in October 2016.
"I was so hysterical, nurses took him away straightaway," she said.
"It was just too devastating. The next month we buried him, but I was struggling to move on. I tortured myself thinking had I not had the operation, my baby might still be alive."
Becky's weight continued to drop and she now has to be fed through a feeding tube into her intestines - leaving her in constant agony.
She's now weighs just 9st 7lb - having lost 15st 7lb in less than two years - and her bones dig into her bed, where she spends most of her time as she’s so exhausted.
"Most people would see my weightloss as a huge achievement, but the experience has been horrific," Becky said.
"I still have terrible stomach pains and can only manage a few mouthfuls of chocolate or crisps a day - not ideal but the only things I can stomach. I feel tired and weak all the time - I felt healthier before the surgery."
The mum-of-one knew she was overweight at 25 stone, but was happy and perfectly content being bigger - with no shortage of admirers or boyfriends.
But every time she saw her doctor for a painful and unresolved hip condition, she claims he told her she should be ashamed of her tubby physique.
It culminated in an appointment where he gave her the shocking ultimatum that she needed gastric surgery or she’d be dead by 40.
Fearing for the future of her daughter Bethany, six, she reluctantly agreed to it, thinking she had no other choice.
But days after being discharged from hospital she suffered agonising stomach pains and her dressings were filled with blood.
Just over a week later she went to the toilet and noticed she was bleeding heavily. She lost six units of blood and needed a transfusion.
In intensive care her veins started collapsing, so doctors put acid through her body to stop the bleeding.
Becky got through it, but even after being discharged she could only stomach ice and water and had no energy.
As a result of her constant nausea she returned to the hospital for tests and discovered she was pregnant.
She and her fiancé Aaron Bridgewood, 32, hadn't been trying, but suspected her contraceptive pill had become ineffective as she'd been so sick.
"Aaron was chuffed and Bethany couldn't wait to be a big sister, but I was terrified for the baby," Becky said.
At nine weeks she was given vitamin milkshakes for the baby but could only manage a few sips.
At her 16-week scan, the nurse couldn’t find a heartbeat and further scans revealed the baby had died.
Becky said telling her daughter Bethany, then five, was "the hardest thing I'd ever had to do".
Her weight continued to drop at an alarming rate - in just 10 months she lost 12 stone.
Now Becky desperately hopes she will have the strength to drag herself up the aisle for her July wedding to Aaron, whom she has been with since November 2015.
She said: “I know that my gastric bypass killed Billy. I had lost 10 stone so fast and could only manage a few mouthfuls at a time. He was literally starved to death inside me.
“What would I say to those considering gastric surgery? Don’t. It’s barbaric. I would do absolutely anything to reverse my surgery. It was the worst decision of my life.
“I felt bullied into it because every cough and sniffle, everyone would blame on my weight.
“Now I miss that 25 stone woman who was bubbly and healthy and didn’t give a toss what people thought.
"I don't think that I'll ever be able to forgive myself."
Around 5,000 obesity operations are carried out a year in the UK...
GASTRIC bypass is one of the three most common types of weight loss (bariatric) surgery carried out in the UK. It’s sometimes called a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
Gastric bypass works by making your stomach smaller and bypassing part of your intestines (bowels), so that you absorb fewer calories. It can help you lose weight if you’re very overweight (morbidly obese).
This is different to a gastric band, which is used to reduce the stomach's size, meaning you will feel full after eating a reduced amount of food.
According to a study, the United Kingdom spends about 48 billion pounds a year dealing with health care and social causes related to obesity.
To qualify for a state-funded procedure, you have to be classed as "dangerously obese".
This could be a person who has a BMI of 40 or above, or a BMI of 35 coupled with other serious health conditions such a type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure.
In private procedures, gastric bands cost between £5,000 and £8,000 - while gastric bypass surgery costs £9,500-£15,000.
Weight loss surgery carries a small risk of complications.
These include:
- being left with excess folds of skin – you may need further surgery to remove these
- not getting enough vitamins and minerals from your diet – you'll probably need to take supplements for the rest of your life after surgery
- gallstones (small, hard stones that form in the gallbladder)
- a blood clot in the leg (deep vein thrombosis) or lungs (pulmonary embolism)
- the gastric band slipping out of place, food leaking from the join between the stomach and small intestine, or the gut becoming blocked or narrowed
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A gastric bypass is where your digestive system is re-routed past stomach, so you digest less food and it takes less to make you feel full.
Earlier this year we told how divorce rates are rampant among people who have gone under the knife to shed dangerous levels of unwanted blubber.
Angela Crickmore, 38, of Nottingham, split with her second husband after her health kick caused their marriage to breakdown in 2013.