Most people think that pregnancy complications happen before or after giving birth. What most people don’t know is that there are considerable risks to mothers who have just given birth.
This Canadian mother from the town of Petawawa in Southern Ontario has experienced one herself, and now warns other mothers about it.
Eleven days after Christine Johnson gave birth to twins Theodore and Arielle, she collapsed in her house and went into seizures.
“Her husband Chris rushed her to the Pembroke Regional Hospital for treatment of what turned out to be abnormally high blood pressure, brought on by a condition called late postpartum preeclampsia,” said a report by the Daily Observer California.
After giving birth
According to Mayo Clinic, “postpartum preeclampsia is a rare condition that occurs when a woman has high blood pressure and excess protein in her urine soon after childbirth.”
Although it often develops within 48 hours of delivery, it can sometimes take up to six weeks before symptoms begin to manifest.
Carrying twins has been rough on her body for the final trimester, but she was able to deliver the twins via C-section. After staying five days in the hospital for observation, she was declared safe to return home.
A day later, her headaches began and gradually worsened.
“I thought they were just spinal headaches, so I didn't worry too much,” she said in her Huffington Post blog.
She also ignored the random nosebleeds and swelling, common side effects of epidural.
READ: Pregnancy complication birthed one of the world’s tiniest babies
On the sixth day, she started to grow confused, unable to recognise even the most basic household objects; once, holding a spoon to make lunch, she asked her husband what the spoon was called.
She fell to her hands and knees then, and soon the seizures began. Her husband rushed her to the hospital.
“I don't remember that day in the hospital,” she said. “I don't remember the spinal tap or the multiple other tests they did throughout the day.”
The doctors found that she had extremely high blood pressure. It wasn’t until an MRI scan was taken did they confirm the suspicion that she was suffering from postpartum preeclampsia.
“Had they not gotten it down, I could have been facing coma or death.”
A year later, the memory of her brush with death continues to haunt her.
“If you are pregnant or a new mom and have severe rib pain, major headaches or any of the other symptoms I listed, please seek medical attention,” she said. “It's worth it to have it checked even if it turns out to be nothing.”
