{"id":6152,"date":"2026-08-31T22:24:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6152"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:24:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:24:31","slug":"baby-tommys-here-chelseas-not-first-time-mum-dies-in-childbirth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6152","title":{"rendered":"‘Baby Tommy’s here, Chelsea’s not’: First-time mum dies in childbirth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"\"
\n\"McGillivray
\nMcGillivray family
Chelsea McGillivray, 31, suffered an unknown cardiac event during labour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The family of a first-time mum who died in childbirth say her newborn son is the “light” that’s keeping them going through their grief<\/p>\n

Chelsea McGillivray suffered an unknown cardiac event during labour last Monday after what was believed to be a textbook <a href="https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6127" title="How to Manage Gestational Diabetes for a Health<\/a>y Pregnancy”>pregnancy<\/a><\/p>\n

The 31-year-old, from Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, received CPR but doctors were unable to resuscitate her<\/p>\n

Her son Tommy was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit where he was monitored after the traumatic birth, but got home healthy two days later<\/p>\n

“I don’t think it has hit us yet, it doesn’t feel real,” Chelsea’s sister-in-law Lorna McGillivray told BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime program<\/a>me<\/p>\n

“We will be laughing and telling stories one minute then we’re breaking down the next – so it’s a rollercoaster at the moment<\/p>\n

“We are all rallying around as much as we can and trying to navigate this new reality with baby Tommy here and Chelsea not.”<\/p>\n

\n\"McGillivray
\nMcGillivray Family
Tommy was born on 24 August at the QEUH in Glasgow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chelsea’s pregnancy was at full term when her waters broke and she went to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow<\/p>\n

She was checked over and told to go home<\/p>\n

Lorna, who is married to Chelsea’s brother Steven, said her contractions then came on quickly<\/p>\n

Chelsea went back to the hospital ward with her partner Jack and her mum, where it was confirmed she was in labour<\/p>\n

“She was in labour pain but she was still in good spirits and cracking jokes,” Lorna said<\/p>\n

But she said when Chelsea was moved to the bed ready to give birth, she “crashed”<\/p>\n

The midwife raised the alarm and emergency teams began CPR immediately<\/p>\n

Lorna said: “They thought she was maybe panicking and couldn’t catch her breath<\/p>\n

“She was talking one minute then the next, she wasn’t.”<\/p>\n

All of Chelsea’s prenatal tests had been normal and the family said she had no underlying health conditions<\/p>\n

“She wasn’t unwell – there were no signs of this,” Lorna added<\/p>\n

\n\"McGillivray
\nMcGillivray Family
Chelsea’s sister-in-law Lorna described Tommy as “perfect”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Doctors managed to deliver Tommy safely and he is now at home with dad, Jack<\/p>\n

“Tommy is doing amazing,” Lorna said<\/p>\n

“He’s just perfect and he is the light that is keeping us going through all of this<\/p>\n

“We’re still trying to celebrate him being here even though we are going through the hardest time of our life because that is what Chelsea would want.”<\/p>\n

\n\"McGillivray
\nMcGillivray Family
Chelsea’s family said she could not wait to be a mum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lorna said Chelsea was looking forward to being a mum. She had organised everything from the baby shower and gender reveal to personalised decor for when Tommy arrived<\/p>\n

“We knew what kind of mum she would be because she doted on my two boys – her nephews,” she said<\/p>\n

“She was almost at full-term pregnancy and she was determined to take them to the park for a picnic, running about after them and playing<\/p>\n

“She had this infectious laugh, she was the life and soul of everywhere and she just loved being around people.”<\/p>\n

\n\"McGillivray
\nMcGillivray Family
Lorna said Jack was “devastated” to have lost his partner but has taken to fatherhood well<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tommy’s dad Jack now plans to honour his partner’s memory and continue to do what she would have wanted<\/p>\n

Chelsea had booked a new-born photoshoot for when the baby was born and Jack still intends to take Tommy<\/p>\n

“Nobody should have to go through losing the most important person in their life while she was bringing their baby into the world,” Lorna said<\/p>\n

“Jack’s obviously devastated but he is stepping up to what he needs to<\/p>\n

“We’re all so proud of him and he’s hooked to fatherhood like we all expected and knew he would.”<\/p>\n

The family have set up a fundraiser so Jack, who is self-employed, does not have to worry about money while taking time off work<\/p>\n

It has raised more than \u00a385,000<\/p>\n

Lorna said: “He needs to spend time with Tommy and grieve without worrying about finances<\/p>\n

“It will never bring Chelsea back or take away the pain but it takes the pressure off<\/p>\n

“I keep saying to him: ‘You don’t need to look at it as money, just look at it as time. It gives you more time.'”<\/p>\n

\n\"McGillivray
\nMcGillivray Family
Lorna described Chelsea’s “big smile and dimples” and her “infectious laugh”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lorna said she thinks about Chelsea’s “big smile and dimples” in moments of sadness<\/p>\n

“Chelsea wasn’t scared, she wouldn’t have known this was going to happen and she held on long enough to get baby Tommy here,” she added<\/p>\n

“She would want us to celebrate him and not let the grief consume us.”<\/p>\n

A NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokesperson said: “Our heartfelt condolences are with Chelsea’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”<\/p>\n

Pregnancy
\nWomen’s health
\nRutherglen
\nChildbirth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The family of a first-time mum who died in childbirth say her newborn son is the “light” that’s keeping them going through their grief<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[145,1359,1360,1358,1357],"class_list":["post-6152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pregnancy","tag-baby","tag-chelseas","tag-firsttime","tag-here","tag-tommys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6160,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6152\/revisions\/6160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}