While the pizza was in the oven tonight I ironed Harry's Karate Gi for tomorrow. That's not remarkable (or at least it shouldn't be) but what I was thinking while I steamed is.

I write, periodically, about some of the most intimate moments of my life, of Jessica's life and death. I'm used to that and it's a conscious decision, with a clear aim of trying to prevent it happening again to some other woman and her heart broken family.

What I never expected was to be inundated with emails and comments on this blog from other women who are prepared to share their equally intimate, graphic and heart rending stories of near disaster, pain and mistreatment.

I'm so grateful for all of this honesty and I hope that these stories as well as Jessica's will help to change things for the next mother, maybe for you.

Aarrggh. I could scream.

I heard a story at lunch today that made my skin crawl. A mother (a friend of a friend and I don't know her, so I won't use specifics) was unwell a couple of days after delivering a baby in a London hospital. Told that she had tendonitis in her foot, she was sent home.

Progressively worse, she took herself to A&E and demanded to be taken seriously as she couldn't possibly be feeling that ill just because of a foot complaint.

When humoured by the staff and given proper attention, she was then told that if she was any more unwell she would have been dead. She was treated in Intensive Care for two and a half weeks and told that it might be up to a year before she was back to full health.

What (as if you need to ask) was wrong? She was suffering from Puerperal Sepsis. Childbed Fever. The hospital were amazed - they 'didn't think it still happened'.

When will somebody, anybody, wake up and listen? Mothers' health should not be ignored like this. Mothers do still get Childbed Fever, and yes, some of them do die. Those that don't seem to live by the skin of their teeth. I have almost lost count of the number of stories that I have heard in the last few years and although most (but not all) of these stories have happy endings, nobody, let alone a mother after childbirth, should be getting so ill in the 21st century.

If I've heard of all these stories, why hasn't the NHS, and why are they not getting the picture. How many more Jessica's have to die before they will?

I've just been, as I sometimes do, trawling the Internet for stories, comment and opinion on puerperal sepsis with the help of my friend. It really bothers me that there is so much opinion, comment and belief that childbed fever/puerperal fever/puerperal sepsis (call it what you will) is still caused by lack of hygiene and of handwashing.

Yes, if a mother has an internal examination by someone who has been performing autopsies without washing their hands in chlorinated lime, they're in trouble. What Ignaz Semmelwies discovered was the cause of the spread, in epidemic proportions, of sepsis.

Group A Streptococcus is, as far as I'm aware, the biggest puerperal sepsis causing bacterium. It is also naturally occuring on and within many of us quite harmlessly. The attitude that handwashing, sterile gloves and the passing of centuries has rid us of the original problem is at the heart of Jessica's problem.

I've now received so many messages, through comments on this blog and mostly by email, from women who have survived Puerperal Sepsis (or Childbed Fever) that it deserves comment.

Often the sepsis is due to retained placenta, but equally often - as in Jessica's case - it is not. To underline the problem, Jessica had a totally normal, textbook delivery. In the aftermath of her death and during the legal investigation every aspect of delivery and immediate post delivery care was scrutinised and no fault was found.

A perfect, complication free delivery is no guarantee of safety from sepsis. Jessica died because Group A Streptococcus invaded her uterus. Group A Strep is a relatively common bacteria - 'Strep Throat' is a more common manifestation. What is amiss is not to recognise the symptoms of Group A Strep when it takes a hold. It is a nasty and highly toxic organism and unless the symptoms of infection are caught early enough, death is a very real outcome.

Whatever the cause, infection in mothers should ring alarm bells, and the trigger should be any sign of fever or general feeling of unwell. Do not put a feverish temperature down to mother's milk coming in unless you are certain it cannot be infection.

When I was born my mother and I spent over a week in hospital so any infection would, had it occurred, in all probability have been picked up quickly enough. The fact that mothers are now turfed out of their beds in as little as six hours does not mean that the risk of childbed fever has diminished in any way.

It is purely complacency and cost saving. The risk is as strong as ever, and the stories that I have heard of so-called 'dirty' mothers with an infection pleading to be readmitted is heart rending. All too often it has been an understanding family GP with experience of working in third world countries that has insisted on admission and thereby saved the poor woman's life.

It makes me weep to know that there may be another Jessica any day. The reality is that there probably have been several, but I just haven't heard yet.