A MUM who died during childbirth told her partner "tell the kids I love them, I'm going to be fine" moments before her death.

Sabine Mukanga was excited to welcome her baby girl into the world, but was tragically taken into hospital when she was seven months pregnant.

The 28-year-old had been complaining of heartburn, feeling hot and breathless.

Partner Robert Lawani called paramedics and she was admitted to North Manchester General Hospital in the early hours of the morning on February 28, 2021.

After tests were carried out, doctors delivered the devastating news that the couple's unborn baby had passed away and Sabine would need an emergency C-section.

As she was wheeled in for surgery, the young mum who already cherished three children, told Robert: "Tell the kids I love them. I'm going to be fine."

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Tragically, Sabine died during the operation and Robert was left to tell their daughter and son, aged seven and four.

Robert, from Manchester, told Manchester Evening News: “I am totally lost without Sabine.

"She was a wonderful mother, and she was so excited about the birth of our baby. She couldn’t wait.

“The last thing she said, as she was wheeled down for surgery, was: ‘Tell the kids I love them. I’m going to be fine.’ I felt the inquest raised more questions than answers. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

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The bereft dad-of-two explained there were no signs of emergency or panic when he last saw Sabine and everything became a "blur" after her loss.

“I was due to fly abroad for work the next day, and she was insisting I should still go," he said.

"There was no indication at all that her life might be in danger.

"She was buried with our daughter, and just couldn’t accept it. I’d no idea what had gone wrong.

“We’d been so happy looking forward to a new baby. My life fell to pieces.”

The couple had met while working together at a hair salon 10 years ago and it was love at first sight.

Robert and Sabine became a family, with the young mum's eldest child from a previous relationship.

After three happy years together they welcomed their daughter Princiar.

I am totally lost without Sabine."

In 2018 the couple were overjoyed with the birth of their son Princeton, and Sabine discovered she was pregnant again in 2020.

“We were thrilled. Sabine began shopping immediately for baby clothes and she was over the moon when the scan showed we were having a daughter," explained Robert.

"She loved girly things.

“Sabine was perfectly fit and healthy with no problems in any of her pregnancies, so we had no concerns at all."

FAMILY AGONY

A coroner concluded Sabine had died from internal bleeding and an inquest earlier this month heard there were "shortcomings" in her hospital care.

The inquest, held at Manchester Coroners' Court, heard the young mum suffered "external rupture of the external hematoma of the splenic artery" which caused a "massive" and fatal bleed.

After her sudden death, the Health and Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) and a gastrointestinal consultant, Sayan Bhattacharya, both carried out reviews of Sabine's care.

Dr Bhattacharya told the hearing he didn't think anyone "knew what was going on".

The last thing she said, as she was wheeled down for surgery, was: ‘Tell the kids I love them. I’m going to be fine.’"

"There was no obvious bleeding from the vagina, so there was no obvious cause of the bleeding from the uterus," he added.

"We did not know where the bleeding was coming from, in summary.

"The most common cause comes to mind and then we start eliminating from there."

The consultant explained doctors initially believed her bleeding was to do with her pregnancy, so it was dealt with by the obstetric team.

However, the young mum had started bleeding behind the back wall of her abdomen and had "very little chance" when she arrived at the hospital, explained the consultant.

He said: "The only chance would have been to know the course of the bleeding was the splenic artery.

"In that case, we would have taken a different approach.”

'SHORTCOMINGS'

The inquest heard a CT scan may have alerted medical professionals to the root of the bleeding, but Dr Bhattacharya claimed Sabine was too "unstable" and "her chances were poor to start with".

Coroner Zak Golombeck told the court the findings showed there should have been "a multi-disciplinary approach to her care involving the emergency department, critical care and gastro surgery involvement in her care."

He also concluded there should have been a CT scan, but admitted it is not definite this would have showed the source of Sabine's bleeding.

"While there were shortcomings accepted by the trust there's not any evidence, where I can find, such shortcomings make more than a minimal contribution to her death," he said.

We’d been so happy looking forward to a new baby. My life fell to pieces.”

Sabine's heatbreaking death was concluded to be of natural causes after suffering "massive internal bleeding" caused by "an external rupture of the dissecting haematoma of the splenic artery".

Following the hearing, a spokesperson for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust said: "We would again wish to offer our sincere condolences to Sabine’s family for their loss.

"The coroner ruled that addressing the highlighted shortcomings sadly would have not altered the outcome for Sabine, but we have put an action plan in place as part of our approach to constantly learning lessons to improve patient care."

'I NEED ANSWERS'

Following the inquest, Robert claimed he is left with more questions than answers.

The 33-year-old claimed Sabine had given her consent for a CT scan and he was unsure why it never happened.

“I don’t know when Sabine became too unstable for the scan. I don’t know exactly when or how our baby died," he said.

"There seemed to be no urgency at all at the hospital and yet by the end of the night, my partner and my baby were both dead.

“I need answers so that I can grieve.”

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Robert and friends have started a GoFundMe to take legal proceedings further.

He wrote:  "I am not happy with the decision of the coroner at the inquest after admitting the short comings of the hospital but yet concluded that her death was natural."

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