British woman spends 20 days in labor before giving birth prematurely

June 4, 2010 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

A British woman spent 20 days last year exhibiting signs of being in labor before giving birth prematurely to her baby son.

Amy Buck began her long ordeal last year on May 4 when she went to Royal Lancaster Infirmary complaining of stomach pains.

“I was getting a lot of hot flushes, was very, very tired and short of breath,” Buck told the Telegraph. “I had cramps and contractions all the time and they got worse and worse.”

Buck was told that it was normal pain from the womb and sent her home. But her condition continued to worsen.

“It got progressively worse,” she said. “When the doctors sent me home, after that it began to get unbearable. Mum said just take some painkillers.”

Unable to cope with the pain, Buck returned to the hospital 15 days later. “I went into hospital again and they said ‘you’re in full labor.’ Because I’d been open for 15 days I had contracted an infection. It was risky for me as well.”

”Then they said they were going to have to break my waters because my infection was putting Daniel at risk,” she added. “Then my waters broke on their own as soon as my bum touched the bed. They said, ‘You’re going to give birth today.’”

On May 24, twenty days after her first visit, Buck gave birth to baby Daniel nearly five months prematurely, weighing only 1 pound, 3 ounces. The boy was only given a 15 percent chance of living. Daniel faced a host of problems including lung problems and laser eye treatments.

“I thought he wasn’t going to survive but later he started getting better,” said Buck. Now Daniel, who celebrated his first birthday last week, weighs a healthy 17 pounds. “’Looking at him now, I realize he he’s little miracle and a little fighter,” she added.