Southampton mum Sian Wilson died just weeks before being due to give birth

Sian Wilson was just weeks away from giving birth to her fifth child Harvey when she suddenly collapsed, having suffered a blood clot on her heart.

Husband Andy then made a desperate bid to save his unborn son, enlisting the help of their 17-year-old daughter to try and revive her mum and keep the vital oxygen supply circulating for the baby.

Outside the couple’s bedroom, he frantically began sawing down a banister rail he had just built on their staircase, to enable paramedics to access 41-year-old Sian quickly and get her into an ambulance.

But despite their efforts, nothing could be done to save the lives of Sian and son Harvey, who was born by caesarean in hospital. Both were pronounced dead just hours later.

Today, Sian’s family has chosen to speak to the Daily Echo, to pay tribute to the devoted and bubbly mother, who was the “life and soul” of any party.

Andy said: “I’ve lost my wonderful wife and life will never be the same again.”

Harvey was due to be the latest addition to the family alongside Charlotte, 17, Emily, 14, 11-year-old Francesca and Haydn who is seven.

The couple had previously lost a little girl Amelia, who was born eight years ago, 21 weeks premature.

This Thursday, Sian will be laid to rest alongside Harvey and with Amelia at a cemetery near their Chandler’s Ford home.

The tragedy unfolded at the family home last Sunday as Sian joked and laughed with Andy but quickly complained of feeling very unwell.

Within seconds she was gone but while he knewhe had lost her, Andy’s attention turned to their unborn baby and the battle to keep him alive.

Speaking from her home in Totton, Sian’s sister Lindsay Osman, said: “He knew she had gone but he knew she would have wanted to do anything to save their baby, so the children could at least have the baby.”

With paramedics warning they only had a six-minute window to get oxygen to the unborn child, Charlotte bravely performed CPR on her mum until the ambulance arrived.

Meanwhile Andy quickly ensured Emily, Francesca and Haydn were downstairs away from the trauma, and then began frantically sawing apart a banister rail, which Sian had had problems squeezing through, to allow the paramedics to get his wife out quickly.

Sian’s brother Neil, 51, said: “They had just been laughing on the bed about the state of the house, because they were doing it up, and the X-Factor when Sian suddenly said she couldn’t breathe.

“Andy hopped straight out of bed but by the time he got to her side she had already gone to sleep. She had no pain, no time to panic and that is something we take comfort in.

“Charlotte, who wants to become a doctor, was amazing and the paramedics told her that she did a great job, that she couldn’t have done any more for her mum.Nobody could.”

At the hospital doctors tried in vain to save baby Harvey, performing an emergency caesarean, but sadly the pair were pronounced dead two hours later.

Sian, who lived in Avery Gardens, had died from a blood clot in her heart and doctors told the family that she would have had just five seconds before she passed away.

Older sister Carol, 54, added: “We knew it was bad but we were still hoping that we could at least hold her hand at the end and let her know we were there but we just never got that opportunity.

“It was heartbreaking because we were all so looking forward to the birth, the due date was etched in all of our memories.”

After a short naming ceremony for Harvey, Andy was faced with the painful task of going home and telling his four children the devastating news that their mum and brother would not be coming home.

“We had a long chat on the way home”, said Neil, “and he told us he couldn’t do it on his own, so we all went back to the house.

“As soon as they sawus they knew and an almighty wail went up. It was harrowing.

“How do you explain to four young children that their mum is never coming home?

“The next day we knew we just had to rid the house of all the baby things, for the sake of the children. It was heartbreaking to do but we had to do it for them.

“Haydn is too young to understand and he keeps coming out with things like, ‘who is going to put balloons up on my birthday’.”

Lindsay, 43, said: “Sian was just the best mum her children could have ever had. Her children were her life and she would do anything for them.

“Where she went, they went and whenever you saw them coming you would say ‘there’s Sian with her tribe’.”

Just a week before her death, Sian had gone on maternity leave from her job at Aviva, in Chandler’s Ford, where she had worked for eight years.

Neil said: “When I spoke to her boss, she said that they were all looking forward to having Sian back at work because she was the life and soul of the place.

“She was always someone who would tell you how things were. She always gave me a run for my money and was always ready with a quick reply, always wanting the last word and that is what I will miss.”

Sian grew up with her two sisters, Carol and Lindsay and two brothers, Neil and Graham, 37, in Totton, where their parents, Gwyn and Ken ran various pubs in the area, including the Rising Sun in Shirley. The former Testwood School pupil was married to Andy, a selfemployed taxi driver, for 19 years, after he made numerous attempts to win her over.

“You would always hear Sian before you saw her”, Carol added, “she was larger than life and bolder than brass.

“There are so many funny stories we have heard since her death about what she used to get up to. We will miss her terribly.”

Family Tribute

WE miss you so much.

They are the heartbreaking words of Sian’s eldest daughters in emotional personal tributes to their mum.

On their mum’s Facebook page, Charlotte described how Sian had become “like a best friend” who everybody needed.

She wrote: “The day you left us and went to heaven my whole world came crashing down around me. Life’s just so cruel and unfair and I miss you with every little bit of my heart. I think about you every minute of the day and dream that everything is OK but then wake up to realise that you’re not there.

“I miss you so much, your bubbly voice, loving smile, I miss everything about you and I want you back more then anything.

“I will always love you forever and ever and will be thinking about you and that little brother of ours that you were carrying for so long and we were all so excited about, everyday for the rest of my life. I love you will all my heart.”

Emily addded: “I can’t believe that you are gone. I miss you so much. I have so much to say to you and now that you are gone I can’t say it to you properly.

“I just love you so much and I always will Mum.

Everything has just come as such a shock to everyone.

You were so kind and funny and I just miss you so much now. RIP Mum and my baby brother Harvey, I will forever and always love you both.”

Funeral Details

The funeral will be held this Thursday at St Boniface Church, Hursley Road, Chandler’s Ford, at 11.30am. All who knew Sian are welcome to the service and the wake at the Hiltingbury Farm House pub in North Millers Dale, from 12.30pm.

The family are welcoming floral tributes. For enquiries contact Ramalley House Funeral Directors on 8025 2088.