New mum had to catch her bowel and intestines when C-section scar ripped open after stitches were removed

A new mother was left in agony and shock after being forced to catch her own bowel and intestines when a caesarian scar tore open.

Sam Bell's torment didn't stop there however, as she then had to wait 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

The 28-year-old was given the all clear by doctors to leave the hospital three days after having given birth to daughter Chloe Terman by planned caesarian.

Days later, she was visited at her home by a midwife who removed the wound stitching in a scheduled appointment.

Following the routine procedure however Sam swung her legs off the bed to stand up and felt like her trousers were sticking to her.


She opened her trousers and was horrified to see her wound reopen before her eyes - and her bowel and intestines tumbled out.

Mother-of-two Sam then lay waiting for an ambulance to arrive for 40 minutes before she was taken back to hospital where she underwent surgery.

Sam, from Liphook, Hampshire, is now on the road to recovery after having staples put in her stomach, but says the experience was a difficult one to deal with.

She said: "I just felt this twinge.

"It almost felt like my trousers were stuck to my stomach, so I pulled them open.

"I looked down and as I did that my wound opened and my bowel and intestines just fell out.

"Obviously I shouted and my partner came running in and the midwife came running in and that was the only time I looked at it because I just couldn't bear to look at it any more.
The midwife asked what happened, I pulled off my trousers and showed her - she had a fright herself because she'd never seen anything like it before.

"Then she said ok, just lay down on the bed and they called an ambulance.

"That took 40 minutes to come, it took a long time to get there.

"We waited for the ambulance which eventually came, because it had been so long my partner recalled and said 'where's the ambulance?'.

"They said, well we've got your call but we haven't got an ambulance to bring you, we're so busy we can't get one to you.

"So then they increased it to life threatening and then within five, ten minutes the ambulance was there.

"It was quite tough because I was crying but trying not to cry because I didn't know how much else could come out of me.

"I just didn't know what to do, so I just thought lay and breathe deeply.

"Obviously I did cry because my newborn baby, because I breast feed, was starting to cry so she was just screaming her head off and it was really tough to be honest.

"Something inside me just said you have to keep it together and stay strong."

Sam gave birth by elected caesarian at St Hellier's Hospital on March 24, following a difficult natural birth with her 15-month-old son, Mitchell Terman.

She was then visited by a midwife on Sunday March 29, when she had her stitches removed - resulting in the wound reopening - which is extremely rare.

Sam, who was supported by her partner, Matt Terman, 28, during the incident said everything was made worse by not being to help her crying children who were home at the time.

Following an operation, which required 20 staples to hold her organs in place, Sam spent a further four days in hospital, returning home on April 2.

She described the pain as "excruciating" and said the incident tarnished the joy of becoming a mother.

She said: "The pain was, I can't really describe the pain, it was excruciating. It was horrible. It was so much.