By Erica Williams
A mother of eight, who had labour induced when she was scheduled to give birth via caesarean section (C-section), died last week at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) along with one of the twin babies she was carrying.
Sharon Bowman, 40, died in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on September 17, seven days after giving birth to twin girls.
Speaking to Stabroek News at his Lot 372 Bachelor’s Adventure, East Coast Demerara home,
the woman’s husband Collin Bowman said he had taken his wife to GPH on September 9 around 4 pm and was with her until 7 pm up to which time, she was doing well.
He said that on September 10 when he arrived at GPH in the morning to visit his wife, he was told she was no longer in the ward he had left her. He said he tried enquiring about his wife’s whereabouts and no one seemed to know where she was.
Bowman said that after he became annoyed, a nurse took him to a doctor. This doctor, he said, informed him that his wife’s blood pressure had gotten out of control and that she began to have seizures when labour was induced. Bowman said he could not understand labour being induced, since his wife had been scheduled for a C-section.
The grieving husband said he was also told that her heart had stopped for a period of ten minutes and she was resuscitated and taken to the ICU where she succumbed seven days later.
The man related that he was confused and disheartened at his wife’s death. He said he could not comprehend why his wife died. Bowman said that throughout his wife’s pregnancy they had visited the clinic to take regular checks and ultrasounds.
Although she had issues with hypertension prior to her pregnancy that condition did not surface during her pregnancy, he said. And he noted that the C-section had been scheduled because she was pregnant with twins and that was the safest way to ensure the birth of her twins and the safety of her life.
Meanwhile, Bowman’s eldest daughter, who is 18 years old, said she was at her mother’s side and that her mother was on life support on the day of her death. She said she had been told by a nurse that once the indicators representing her mother’s heart rate on the life support machine go up, it meant her mother could hear her. This information, she said, gave her the confidence to speak to her mother although she got no response.
She said that she had left her mother’s side for approximately 2 minutes to check on her newborn baby sister while her mother was being injected with medication as she did not have the strength to look on. The young woman said she returned to her mother shortly after only to be told that she had died.
Bowman’s daughter said they had received conflicting reports as to the death of one of the babies. She said the doctor had initially told the family that baby number one was critical, but the later switched to baby number two being critical.
However, she said, it was baby number one who survived. The family expects to welcome home the eighth sibling today.
Meantime, a post-mortem examination was performed, but the dead woman’s husband was aggrieved that he was not present at the time, nor has he seen the results. According to her death certificate, Sharon Bowman died of pneumonia and high blood pressure.
Her body is to be laid to rest on Sunday.
