A Kiama woman who was allegedly struck down with food poisoning from a chicken roll has given birth to a baby girl more than a month prematurely in an emergency caesarean.
Ashley Buchanan and her husband were both admitted to Wollongong Hospital with severe food poisoning on Sunday night after they began to feel extremely ill. Mrs Buchanan told 2UE breakfast radio that they had both eaten a hot chicken roll from the Box Village Bakery earlier that day.
While in hospital she continued to deteriorate and by Tuesday morning doctors made the decision to perform the emergency procedure. Luckily the couple’s daughter, Ava, was born healthy, however doctors explained that Mrs Buchanan’s placenta had ruptured.
“The infection was so severe and I was so sick,” she said. “It was all quite frightening because my blood pressure went right down and they had to rush me to ICU straight after delivery.”
Father too sick to attend birth
Mr Buchanan was not allowed to attend the birth of his daughter, as he was still too unwell. And, because Mrs Buchanan had to remain in the intensive care unit for 24 hours following the procedure, she was unable to see her daughter until the following day.
“For your first child – or any child – you don’t expect for it to pan out like that. We were just so lucky that the doctors got this in time,” she said.
Bakery shut down
According to the Daily Telegraph, the NSW Food Authority closed the Box Village Bakery last week while they investigate the alleged outbreak. More than 150 people have reportedly been struck down with food poisoning after eating pork and chicken rolls from the bakery, 27 of which were admitted to hospital.
The owner of the bakery, Hien “Johnny” Dau has apologised to customers.