Newborn baby dies in dad's arms while parents waited 2 hours for a midwife

A hospital is investigating the death of a newborn baby sent home the day after a traumatic birth - as his distraught young parents waited over two hours for a midwife.
Colby Risso was born to 16 year-old mother Caitlin Walsh 2 weeks ago after a problematic 11 day labour.
Immediately after the birth Caitlin and her partner Jack Risso, 19, noticed the left side of the baby's face was droopy and his eye would not open properly.
They say they were told by hospital midwives that Colby would be checked out but heard nothing more.

They were sent home from hospital at 11.30pm the day after the birth and two days later a midwife visited and said everything was fine.
But a day later Colby woke from a sleep and started gushing milk out of his nose.

Panicked Caitlin called the midwife who promised to be there within two hours but she never arrived.
After an hour-and-a-half Colby became listless and as his parents cuddled him he gave a sudden gasp then stopped breathing.
The couple called 999 and an ambulance arrived in 11 minutes and rushed him back to Milton Keynes Hospital.

Doctors managed to resuscitate him and he was transferred to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
But his brain was badly damaged due to a lack of oxygen and the parents believe Colby actually died in the arms of his father.

The couple agreed to switch off the life support machine on July 30 - when Colby was just 6 days old.

A post mortem could not determine a cause of death so Colby's brain was sent to London for tests, but the tests were inconclusive.

Milton Keynes Hospital has said it is carrying out a "full investigation" into Colby's death.
Caitlin, from Bletchley,said: "We feel failed by all the medical staff.

"The hospital should not have let me go home.

"I'm a 16 -year-old girl with a newborn. "We feel devastated. " We feel let down.

"We feel nobody was there for us when our baby needed help. "I don't think we will ever recover.

We knew our baby was dying right there in front of us and nobody was there to save him.
"We hope lessons will be learned from Colby's death and others will not suffer like we have."

Recalling the traumatic birth Caitlin said: "It was horrible.

"His heartbeat dropped to 60 beats a minute several times and at the end he needed forceps and suction to get him out.

"His face was droopy and one of his eyes would not open properly. "The midwives said they'd get him checked out but nothing happened.

"The doctors thought there could have been brain damage, possibly due to the birth, that was not picked up.
"That would explain why one side of his face was droopy."
Caitlin and Jack, a demolition worker, claim they have had little contact with the hospital since the death apart from a phone call from a bereavement midwife.



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