I gave birth & my baby was taken away in hours – I’m locked up but the separation is worse than any prison sentence
A MUM has opened up about the torment she went through when her baby was taken away from her just hours after giving birth.
Eve is currently serving in custody in a prison in Atlanta in the US, but their strict laws prohibit her from being by her child’s side.
Now, Eve, 29, has shared how she felt when she was separated from her baby son – a moment that still haunts her today.
In episode one of Katie Piper’s new UKTV show, Jailhouse Mums, viewers were introduced to the woman who gave birth eight weeks prior.
She met with Katie, 39, in her cell in the general population in Cobb County Jail in Atlanta. And the tears flowed as she recalled the pain she felt after giving birth.
Eve explained: “I didn’t put him down at all because I knew I would be leaving him soon.
“They told me I was going to have a couple of days in the hospital with him – but it turns out I only got one day.
“I didn’t sleep the entire time I was there – I just held him.”
But there was worse to come for Eve – who is serving a sentence for drug trafficking – as the clock ticked by and she prepared to kiss her baby goodbye.
Speaking of the heartbreaking moment their separation came, she said: “I cried and cried and cried and held him and held him and held him and loved him as much [as I could].”
She added: “I put a lot of love into him.”
As an emotional Eve went on to explain where her little boy was now, she said she felt fortunate that she had family members who could bring him up – something many of the other women in the jail have not experienced.
Eve – who also has an older daughter who is being brought up by her aunt – continued: “I was lucky enough to have family to take my baby – the father’s sister.”
She also showed mum-of-two Katie pictures of her little girl and her newest addition and spoke of her hopes to be the mum she wants to be one day.
She told Katie: “I do [feel like a mum] and I can’t wait to get back to my babies. I miss them so much.”
I cried and cried and cried and held him and held him and held him
Eve
Elsewhere in the episode, Katie met with Sergeant Duncan who looks after the women inside – even going with them to the hospital when they give birth.
She explained to Katie: “We do not leave their sides, even if they were to go into an operating room.
“I try to put myself in their shoes and imagine what they’re going through.
“I have kids of my own so I know what they’re going through – but they don’t have anyone else there.
“We don’t allow them to have visitors. I try to be there for them like a family member would. I am there for security but they don’t have anyone else.”
She was very distraught at leaving her baby in the hospital
Sergeant Duncan
She continued: “You try not to remind them of the circumstances. My job is just to remind them that this is their time with the baby [and] to take this time.”
And when Katie asked what the average time most women get to spend with their newborns is, Sergeant Duncan answered: “On average about two days.
“In the majority of my experiences they’re very upset. I had a female that recently had a baby and she was very distraught at leaving her baby in the hospital.
“All she wanted to do was hold him and keep him. It’s very, very sad and she was very vocal distraught – I mean you could probably hear her down the hall just wailing.”
Katie Piper’s Jailhouse Mums airs Wednesday 21st June at 10pm on W, catch up on UKTV Play
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