32 year old Maria lives on the outskirts of Glasgow with her husband of two years, Dane, and their young son. Self-employed in the beauty industry, she balances the demands of work with the busy, rewarding life of being a mum. Her time outside work is spent with her family and her miniature pinscher, Manny, enjoying long walks and the calm of being out in nature.  

At what should have been one of the happiest times in her life, shortly after the birth of her first child, Maria developed sepsis and was tested in ways she could never have expected. She describes what unfolded here. 

I first realised that something was wrong five days after I gave birth to my son Ari in late April 2025.  

I was extremely cold, my lips were blue, I was shivering and I had this horrible feeling that something was seriously wrong. I was crying uncontrollably.  I went to the maternity assessment unit and was told my symptoms could be the baby blues or my breast milk coming in. They said that they could see an infection but were unclear of the cause. My infection markers were apparently high but they said this was normal because I had had a C-section five days prior. They managed to get my temperature down and by that stage I was almost convinced that it was all in my head. I was sent home with oral antibiotics. 

Six days later – because of how unwell I was and because I felt that no one was taking me seriously – I went back to the maternity assessment. In those six days I had developed severe muscle pain in my neck and shoulder; it felt like my neck was going to snap and I had to hold my head up. I phoned my midwife to come out and they told me it was trapped gas from my C-section and to drink peppermint tea and walk it off as there was nothing they could do and that it would go away by itself. For days I walked around my garden drinking peppermint tea whilst holding my head up. I went to the GP who said it could be muscle pain from breastfeeding.  

We called the maternity assessment every night because I was crying in pain. They kept saying that, whilst I could come in, there was nothing they could do for me. I knew in my gut that there was something seriously wrong though. I went back to the maternity assessment at the end of those six days because I was told not to go to A&E for the first six weeks after having the baby. I spent two days there, but no one could figure out what was wrong with me. They gave me pain killers that were doing nothing for the pain. Doctors from a number of different departments came to assess me and each one would say that my case wasn’t suitable for treatment in their ward and that they didn’t know what was wrong with me.  

I was then moved to the labour ward so that I could access stronger drugs, but these still didn’t ease my pain in the slightest. At a loss to know how to treat me, they transferred me to the acute receiving unit of the main hospital. I spent another three days there, telling my story and relaying my symptoms over and over again to different doctors until one recognised the symptoms of sepsis and sent me to the infectious diseases ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Glasgow.  

I wasn’t actually told that I had had sepsis until roughly two weeks after I was discharged from hospital, when I went for a follow-up appointment with my GP. The GP came up with a plan for me going forward and wrote on the plan that the cause of my illness had been post-natal sepsis. I had a six-week check up with my consultant who then confirmed that this was the case. I had been completely unaware up to that point.   

I was in total shock because no one told me specifically that it was sepsis – they had just kept telling me that I had an infection. I was happy to see it written though, because it confirmed to me the severity of what had happened and left me feeling validated in a way. My family were also in complete shock but I think that they were probably glad just to have an answer.  

My consultant and the junior doctor at my infectious diseases ward were both incredible, but nothing really helped me – my body just needed time to recover. My mum moved into my house and cared for my baby and my husband used all of his leave and ended up having to return to work.  

Throughout my treatment and recovery from sepsis I received IV antibiotics through a PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line for two weeks, a variety of different pain relief, physiotherapy and private acupuncture. I am still receiving the physiotherapy and acupuncture and have to use painkillers. The function in my arm has returned but it is very weak and there is no timeline as to when I will be back to how I was pre-sepsis.  

When all of this first happened, my mood was unbelievably low. I was a first-time mum who had to stop breast feeding due to the infection and the quantity of drugs that were now contaminating my milk. This really upset me because I had established breast feeding so well and always wanted to breast feed my son. 

I was also separated from my baby due to the treatment so I felt huge guilt that I couldn’t be there to care for him. Sometimes when he was brought to visit me in hospital I didn’t even want to see him because of that guilt. When I got home my mum and husband took over caring for him because I was so depressed, drowsy from medication, unwell from the sepsis and in pain from nerve damage in my shoulder and arm.  

Because the sepsis was left untreated for so long it had affected my neck and shoulder and my nerves, which was what was causing the unbelievable pain. It compressed 3 nerves (c4, c5 and c6) so that I had no function in my right arm – doctors thought that I had had a stroke at one point. I left the hospital with my dominant arm in a sling. I couldn’t dress myself, go to the toilet by myself, or even put my hair in a ponytail, never mind hold my son, dress him, change his nappy or feed him…I thought I would never be able to care for my baby, return to my business or generally have a normal life again.  

My outlook now has changed. I still have post-natal depression – or maybe post sepsis depression, I’m not sure – but I am thriving as a mum and so proud of how strong I have been to get to the other side.  

I was keen to share my story with Sepsis Research FEAT because, although my consultants tell me that what happened to me was something they had never previously seen in their careers, post-natal sepsis is definitely an obstetric concern and midwives and doctors need to be able to recognise it. I had never heard of post-natal sepsis before and I want people to know the signs, trust their gut and to be taken seriously. I also wanted to share my experience in case anyone is in the situation I was in a year ago and, like me at the time, is wondering how they can recover mentally from it.  

Charity message: 

Maria’s message to others ‘trust your gut and speak up for yourself’ is a vitally important one in any case of sepsis. It is doubly important in the context of maternal sepsis, however, when pregnant and new mums may be unsure of what to expect and what is ‘normal’, and when the focus – understandably – is on the health and well-being of the unborn or newborn child.  

Pregnant women and those immediately postpartum are immunosuppressed in a way that makes them more prone to infection and potentially therefore sepsis. Infection post C-section is also not uncommon. Knowing this and understanding the signs and symptoms of sepsis and what to do if they are suspected is crucial to ensuring the health and well-being of new mums.  

We are so grateful to Maria for sharing her story with Sepsis Research FEAT for its maternal sepsis campaign 2026.