Young mother mourns death of her baby

As she spoke to THE WEEKEND STAR on Thursday, Shakeria Reid constantly rubbed her stomach, occasionally looking down at it, probably hoping to feel a fetal movement that never happened.

She later went inside her house and looked through her son Jahmair Griffiths' clothes, but the infant was not present. The 21-year-old will never get a chance to nurse or watch her son reach various milestones in life as he passed away at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) on December 29, three days after he was born. The St Andrew resident said she is steadily falling into depression.

"His father didn't get a chance to see him until he was dead. We had plans for our son. Mi and him father sit down and plan how we gonna make him feel loved. Mi nuh get to breastfeed or kiss my son. All of this break mi down every single day. I am trying to forget it and stay happy but I can't do it," she said. Jamaica's infant mortality rate was reported at 16.1 per cent in 2022, according to the World Bank. Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.

Reid said she was taken to the hospital on Christmas Day, by her mother-in-law Coleen Johnson-Griffiths. The following morning, Reid said medical staff tried to induce labour.

"The labour start come on more harder on mi and dem give mi fluid and dem pour a little ting in the fluid and tell mi say it nago stop the pain. So mi say 'Why unno a go give mi sumpn if it nah stop the pain? Dis just no make no sense'. Suh mi a get kinda frustrated now and mi start shout and a say nobody no business wid mi and mi inna pain. Mi lay down in the bed and nobody no come look pon mi until after two in the afternoon," she said.

Reid was then assisted to the delivery room where she spent approximately two hours trying to give birth.

"Mi start push but the baby was very big and mi cervix small. Mi start ask if mi can get a C-section because mi cannot push and mi baby a suffocate. Mi gave birth 4:14 p.m. and mi a push from about 2 p.m. One a the time a doctor come and slit mi and it was very painful. I didn't get anything to numb the pain. Mi a panic and nobody was calming me down," Reid said.

"Di baby finally come out after dem slit mi three times and mi cervix tear. He wasn't crying and dem put him on mi chest and him 'gap' and dem take him in a cot and give him oxygen. After dat, dem stitch mi up," she added.

Reid said she was told that her newborn son was having respiratory issues as well as bleeding of the lungs and chest. He was later pronounced dead on December 29.

Johnson-Griffiths said she was anticipating being a grandmother for the first time but will now have to plan his funeral instead.

"Everybody have plans for him. we spend up a lot of money for this baby. His father was looking forward so much to bonding with him. The day dem say the baby dead, when mi touch the baby he was so cold. He was swollen and purple," she said. Johnson-Griffiths said that they have demanded a private autopsy but said the hospital gave a stipulation.

"Dem ago say a dem have to do it but ago say we can get a private pathologist to observe," she said.

THE WEEKEND STAR tried unsuccessfully to get a comment from Dr Garth McDonald, the senior medical officer at the hospital. Questions were also emailed to the hospital's public relations team but up to press time on Thursday, there was no response.