‘He was supposed to be my comfort’ - Newborn dies after complicated delivery

Even before he was born, Kasha Kelly and her partner, Kemar, had already chosen the name Ramar Kashane Edwards for their son.

Kelly said she was overjoyed when she discovered she was expecting again.

"I was very happy, it was a joy for both of us," Kelly said. "I wanted to have another baby because my first son lives abroad, so I wanted a little baby to occupy my time. He was suppose to be my little comfort," he said.

That joy, however, turned to heartbreak. On September 25, just two days after birth, her newborn passed away at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH). Kelly said she never had the chance to hold her son, and the memory of his tiny face exists only in her mind, as she does not have a photograph of him.

"Wednesday will be a month since he was born, and I am dreading the day," she said.

"It is hard for us, and I don't know how we are going to go through the day. His clothes and other stuff are still here," he added.

Kelly recounted that her pregnancy had been normal, with regular prenatal check-ups, until her blood pressure spiked in the third trimester. Her doctor advised that she be admitted for an induced labour, rather than waiting for her September 30 due date.

She was admitted to hospital on September 18, and for the next three days Kelly endured intense, near-constant pain. She recalled being excited when told on September 23 that her baby would be delivered that day.

"Mi just jump out the bed excited, because mi well want mi son to born to see him. Plus, mi just wah get over the pain and mi start deliver the baby from 7:01 a.m. and him never born until 7:55 a.m.." Kelly said.

When baby Ramar finally emerged, he did not cry. He was rushed to the nursery for immediate medical attention. Kelly said she clung to hope as she prayed for her baby's survival, even feeling a spark of encouragement when she touched him in the nursery.

"Mi touch him on him foot and him kinda draw him foot from mi, and mi touch him side and him flinched a little; and I felt good and mi get hope seh mi baby soon come out," Kelly said.

"Afterwards, mi hear seh mi baby not doing well," she said.

Baby Ramar died on September 25. Kelly, in her pain, wants answers.

"I would want to get an autopsy to know what really happen. I kept wondering if I had got a C-section if things would have been different," she said.

Jamaica's infant mortality rate stood at 10.48 per 1,000 live births in 2024, down from 21 per 1,000 in 2010, but still a troubling statistic as the country struggles to meet global health targets, including the Millennium Development Goal of significantly reducing the infant mortality rate.