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'I lost my baby, I lost my marriage and I lost me'

Cathy Killick and Alex Moss
BBC News
BBC Lauren (not her real name)BBC
Lauren had no idea she had the infections until after she lost her baby

A woman who lost her baby when she went into early labour due to unknowingly having contracted sexually transmitted infections (STI) has called for better screening.

Lauren, not her real name, said she had caught gonorrhoea and chlamydia from her husband but was only diagnosed after giving birth to her daughter prematurely at 18 weeks.

Currently, pregnant women are offered screening for three infectious diseases - hepatitis B, HIV and syphilis.

She said: "I lost my baby, I lost my marriage and I lost me."

Warning: This report contains descriptions and content some readers may find distressing

Lauren's memory box
Better screening could help save other babies' lives, Lauren believes

Lauren, from West Yorkshire, became pregnant last June and had no problems until she started getting "a bit of weird discharge".

Doctors thought she had a urinary tract infection, but at 18 weeks her condition worsened to the point where the pain was "just horrendous".

Lauren was in so much pain that her mum took her straight to hospital.

"They got a wheelchair and rushed me straight down to delivery, to a room that I now know is a bereavement room. When we got there, I just looking at my mum and saying why are we in here":[]}