Her dramatic weight loss meant Mrs Bassett had to be taken into hospital when just 11 weeks pregnant. Evan was born early at 30 weeks, but her ‘pregorexia’ left her too frail to care for him until he was 14 months old. Mrs Bassett, now 30 and fully recovered, says: 'Evan is a little miracle. Every day I just look at him and feel so grateful he’s healthy.
'I knew I had to eat more for the baby but I kidded myself and told James that my fruit diet was healthy enough. I didn’t dare confide my thoughts to anyone.' Then at 11 weeks Mrs Bassett collapsed and she was rushed to hospital. A blood test revealed she and her unborn baby were literally starving to death and she was immediately put on a drip. She recalls: 'I was so frightened that I begged doctors to keep me in. I knew I couldn’t be trusted to eat properly at home.' Thankfully scans revealed unborn Evan was fine. But although her husband and hospital staff desperately tried to encourage Mrs Bassett to eat with tempting foods, she could only take tiny nibbles and had to be tube fed to keep her and her unborn child alive.
'It was heartbreaking,” she recalls, 'James was only allowed in once a week with Evan. James was a rock and fortunately my mum helped with Evan so he could work but it was incredibly hard for both of us. And every time I saw Evan I’d cry because he seemed to have grown so much. Devastatingly I missed seeing him crawl for the first time and his first steps.' However, with intensive counselling, her health improved. She says: 'The turning point came when James brought Evan to visit one day. I was changing his nappy and I suddenly felt upset that I wouldn’t be changing it again for a week. 'In that instant I knew if I wanted to be a normal mum to Evan and a have a normal family life I had to get better. I made myself eat.'
When Evan was 14 months and weighing nine stone, his mother finally came home. 'That was a very emotional moment,' she says, 'and from then on I was determined to make it up to Evan. We haven’t been apart since.' Since then Mrs Bassett, who believes anorexia during pregnancy is often not recognised properly, has put on another half a stone and she and her husband are even planning another baby.
via radulova.livejournal.com
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