Pregnant Emma Maskery was suffering from "severe lower right abdominal pain, bleeding, dizziness and back pain" when she was whisked off in an ambulance recently.
"Once the crew arrived I was told that my friend could not come with me, despite my chronic anxiety and other mental health conditions," she says. "I was packed into the back of an ambulance and given gas and air for the journey."
When Emma got to the hospital, she says she was "absolutely terrified" and begged them to allow her partner to join her.
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However, due to Covid-19 restrictions they said no, meaning Emma had to go through her seventh miscarriage on her own.
"I was absolutely terrified and didn't want to experience this on my own," she recalls. "Without my partners support, and my fear of hospitals made this 100 times worse.
"They still said no."
Currently, maternity regulations vary from hospital to hospital, meaning it's become something of a postcode lottery when it comes to how much support mothers get from their birthing partner.
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But like many facilities up and down the country, at the hospital Emma was visiting she says that "nobody [was] allowed to have visitors in A&E or have anyone accompany them.
"This rule goes for the elderly, those mentally ill and expectant mothers."
She continues: "After writhing around in absolute agony and being denied anything more that paracetamol I started to become scared that something inside me was terribly wrong.
"I had never felt pain like it in all my life. I was dry heaving into a bowl, and almost blacking out from the pain.
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"The only way I could relieve some of the pain was to push down hard into my lower right side with my fist, but this became difficult to do after a while."
Three hours later, a doctor arrived to see to Emma, and it was then she learnt that she had tragically lost her baby.
This was Emma's seventh miscarriage, and her pain was only worsened by the fact her partner couldn't be by her side.
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"I was told this news completely on my own," she says. "And then had to message my partner to let her know what had happened as she anxiously waited at home for me.
"My pregnancy wasn't normal, I had bled on and off, I had lots of pains and dizziness and I just knew something wasn't right.
"I queried ectopic [pregnancy] with the hospital a few times but this was never looked into due to my gestation.
"The pain I was experiencing was a backflow of bleeding that was coming out through my Fallopian tubes into my abdominal cavity.
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"What do you do when someone is bleeding out? You put pressure on it. This is why pushing my fist into my side was helping, because it was stopping the flow of blood."
Following her traumatic experience miscarrying alone, Emma shared a Facebook status telling others her story, which has since amassed 208 'shares' and almost 100 comments from sympathetic readers.
Emma has also started a petition calling for Covid-19 restrictions to be lifted in hospitals for women experiencing child-loss.
On the petition site, Emma concludes: "I understand that Covid restrictions are important at the moment and as a high risk member of the public there's nothing I wish more than to keep myself and others safe, but no woman should ever have to be left to wither around in a hospital bed in agony alone to then be told she has lost her baby, alone.
"At any sign of pregnancy loss, ectopic, abnormal bleeding they should be allowed the support of their partner."
Emma's petition currently has just over 1,300 signatures out of the target 3000. You can sign it here.
Her concerns are echoed by a campaign called But Not Maternity, which is calling out the lack of ethics behind applying such rigorous Covid restrictions to mothers when they're giving birth, attending scans and appointments or miscarrying, like Emma.
Holly Clark, a doula at BirthBliss Academy and one of the individuals behind the But Not Maternity campaign, previously told Tyla that they are seeing an "alarming amount" of trauma as a result of the separation that mums-to-be are expected to endure from their loved ones.
Speaking in an open letter to to Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, and NHS England about regulations banning birthing partners - another issue leaving many women alone - Holly and others behind the campaign recently warned that the current regulations are "not necessary, not based on scientific evidence, are disrespecting human rights".
If you want to help the But Not Maternity campaign you can support it on Twitter and write to your local MP.
Featured Image Credit: UnsplashTopics: Pregnancy, maternity, miscarriage, Real, Life, Coronavirus