35 year old mum of three, Becki Finean, a history teacher from Gillingham in Dorset, was in Yeovil Hospital in Somerset, in labour with her second son, when she started to become seriously unwell. Becki takes up her story here.

My sepsis story started in April 2016 when I was in labour with my second son, Ben. I kept repeatedly losing consciousness and was struggling to cope with contractions. It felt totally different to my first delivery eighteen months before. I was given an epidural to help with the pain but I felt really unwell. I just assumed that I was having a difficult labour.  

When Ben was born after 16 hours of labour I was still unwell but I just put it down to the horrible labour. I tried to breastfeed and remained in hospital until breastfeeding was established but my son would simply not accept my milk. I had breastfed my first son, Harry, so I was experienced, but Ben would latch on but not take the milk; midwives and nurses were unable to explain why. After three days, I decided to discharge myself and go home. I was still feeling unwell but thought that I would probably feel better once I got home. But during my discharge obs they found that my heartrate was 154bpm, that my temperature was 41 and my blood pressure was 70/30.  

Very quickly I was visited by an intensive care nurse who was the sepsis lead and she explained that I was very unwell with septic shock and that I would need to be taken straight to intensive care. I felt completely overwhelmed as I didn’t even know what sepsis was.  

My son was quickly discharged into the care of my husband and I was wheeled away and taken to intensive care where I stayed for a week. My family were very concerned; my parents and husband visited me regularly whilst I was there. I had a central line inserted and was given noradrenaline and a range of IV antibiotics until they discovered the cause of my sepsis. They told me that strep A bacteria had entered my body via a cut on my finger and from there into my stitches after the birth. During labour my body had been struggling to fight off the infection. And the reason that my son wouldn’t accept my milk was because he could taste the infection. 

After seven days I was eventually discharged home to be with my husband, my 18 month old, and my new-born baby. 

That wasn’t the end of the story though. In the weeks and months after I had sepsis I was diagnosed with both PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and PND (Post Natal Depression). I received counselling for 18 months as a result. 

Last year Craig and I welcomed our third child Ella into the family. I now really want to raise awareness of sepsis and the signs to look out for as so many people are still unaware of what it is and how serious it can be.  

My message to others would simply be this: if you are concerned that it may be sepsis, please get checked. I hid my symptoms because I didn’t realise what my body was dealing with and I was very close to leaving my two sons without a mother. Please don’t make the same mistake.