Sid Owen has revealed his fiancée Victoria Shores almost died after giving birth to their newborn daughter.
The couple welcomed their first child together earlier this month – a baby girl named Skye.
In a new interview with The Sun, Sid recalled the scary moment his wife-to-be started to haemorrhage after an emergency C-section.
The EastEnders star said: “I did say to doctors at one point, ‘All that matters is Vic, make sure she’s OK and survives.’ I was imagining horror stories.”
“I couldn’t cope with losing Vic, I was more concerned about her. I’m still trying to process the trauma of it. It was the toughest moment I have ever experienced.”
The actor, who played Ricky Butcher on the soap from 1988 until 2012, recalled waking up on Friday morning last week to blood on the sheets of his and Victoria’s bed.
He said: “We were both trying to stay calm for each other, but as it was a month before our due date and we knew something wasn’t right. I phoned the NHS helpline and they sent an ambulance immediately.”
Victoria, 42, added: “The paramedics told Sid to drive on ahead so they could put on the emergency blue light and he could get to the hospital without panicking.”
“I was more of a risk because I had miscarried before and I hadn’t gone through labour for over 12 years.”
The waitress was told she had placenta previa, which is when a low-lying placenta covers the cervix and prevents a natural birth.
Sid said: “It’s very dangerous and means that the placenta could erupt at any time and the baby would be dead in seconds. Inside, I was panicking and thinking, ‘This baby has to come out,’ There seemed to be a lot of risks involved.”
Victoria recalled: “I was really upset. It was scary to think that if it had ruptured Skye would only have seconds to live. But at the same time they didn’t want to take her out too soon in case she couldn’t breathe on her own.”
“Thank goodness we went into hospital though. If I’d have stayed at home I’d have haemorrhaged and probably died because there wouldn’t have been time for a transfusion and the baby wouldn’t have survived.”
“I had desperately wanted to have a natural birth so it was a bit of a shock to come to terms with the idea of an operation. I’d never had one on anything before.”
“Momentarily, I was scared about having my stomach cut, but all that went out the window when the doctors spoke about the urgency to get her out.”
Last Sunday morning, the doctors decided to perform an emergency C-section on Victoria.
Sid said: “I was relieved we were finally getting the baby out but worried about Victoria. We were told she could haemorrhage, lose her womb or worse. It was all suddenly very stressful and touch and go and she had to sign a consent form.”
“When the doctors said there could be a chance of her losing her womb we were worried. We already knew we want to have more children.”
After their daughter was born, Victoria started to haemorrhage and doctors needed to give her two litres of blood.
She said: “As soon as the baby was out it seemed I was in trouble. I could have died. I told Sid, ‘Whatever happens just stay with the baby, make sure you don’t let her out of your sight’.”
Sid added: “We couldn’t thank the NHS staff enough. They were amazing and kept everyone safe.”
