‘…maternal sepsis is not talked about enough…I cannot imagine another mom going through this journey and having no idea what sepsis is.’
For 29 year old Kimberley from Alberta, Canada the joy of the birth of her second daughter Nora in 2024 was horribly overshadowed by her frightening and debilitating experience of sepsis. Here she shares an account of her ordeal in the hope of preventing other women from facing what she herself did. She takes up her story here.
I am hairstylist by trade, but never really got my foot in the door due to having my first child four years ago. I love being crafty, finding nice paths to big forests, playing card games, trivia and spending time with my friends and family. My husband Jay and I love to spend time camping, out at the river with the kiddos and at the dog park with my youngest.
I always dreamed of having a large family. When I was expecting my second daughter Nora, just under two years ago in June 2024, I was diagnosed with sepsis. My medical records suggest that I was already suffering from it when I went into ICU on May 31, 2024 but it was not confirmed until I was an in-patient in the ICU.
About two days before my due date with Nora of May 27th 2024, I started to notice that I was increasingly anxious and also thought I was seeing green discharge. I was really blaming my eyesight until I realised that I had an infection. I then got my husband Jay to call the midwife emergency line to report it. It was a Saturday and she said she would send me for labs on the Monday, which was my due date. I remember picking all my nail polish off – I was very unsettled.
The infection turned out to be invasive Group A Strep, traced back to my uterus. The start of the onset of symptoms aligned with my last membrane sweep in the clinic.
The day before my due date – May 26th – I gave birth to Nora at the hospital. I was eager to return home to my older daughter Elaina so I was discharged home the same day.
But less than 24 hours after Nora’s birth, as I was doing skin to skin at home, my skin turned purple and I started shaking – my teeth were chattering. I was under four heat sources for about 45 minutes before I then spiked a fever.
I experienced unbearable pain when I had uterus shrinking tests – enough for Jay to call the nurses back after their first day 1 visit – I knew something was wrong and I started vomiting but I tried to manage the pain by alternating between different over-the-counter painkillers.
When the midwife came on day 3, I complained that I was finding it hard to breathe – with extreme discomfort beneath my breast. I was unable to feed Nora and felt like there was a lack of milk for her. By that night, my left leg went numb and I was unable to bear weight or even to touch it. At that point my sister Katie begged me to go to the ER.
It was May 30th by the time I was admitted to Rockyview Hospital in Calgary Alberta. It wasn’t until June 22nd that I was finally discharged.
When I was told I had sepsis I had no idea what it was. I felt dirty – my mind was conjuring up images of it as being like a septic tank. My family were scared and really unsure of what to think.
I was immediately put on antibiotics, which I remained on for months, and I also had to have an emergency hysterectomy.
Once I was discharged from the hospital, Jay and I paid for physiotherapy so that I could learn to walk again. I was on antibiotics for 6 months and I still have to have ongoing physio, depending on when we can afford it. But I am still very weak in my leg. I continue to see a pain specialist team whose goal is to make me comfortable.
I wasn’t able to access government funding or any community resources post-sepsis, and – as a ‘child of the system’ – I effectively fell through the gap. I DID have my sisters though – Michelle, who flew in from the States to be by my side when things looked bad, and my sister Katie during my stay in ICU. They were the ones who went and helped my in-laws with the kids and the house. Luckily my in-laws lived with us. Without them, especially my mother-in-law Manjit, it would all have been too much for us. But my sisters had to get back to their own kids ultimately. I had my husband and my physio and for a long time it was them that I relied on to give me the push I needed.
Now I feel that we majorly need sepsis education and rehabilitation for people who leave ICU. Once I was diagnosed as having sepsis, and discharged from the ICU, no one outside my immediate circle did anything to help me. I was a severely depressed new mom and had no resources or family to help reduce some of the pressures of my life or even the cost of treatments to get my leg to bear weight again.
I am keen to share my story with Sepsis Research FEAT now because maternal sepsis is not talked about enough, at least not here where I am in Canada. I cannot imagine another mom going through this journey and having no idea what sepsis is. Had my husband or I known, or had the tools to deal with symptoms, I would have been in the ER days before. Sharing my story gives me hope that someone will read it and absorb the symptoms of sepsis and just be on look out for themselves or others.
My key message to others would be to trust yourself and your own instincts when you feel that your postnatal recovery isn’t normal. If you’re really struggling, please go to the ER (A&E in the UK). I feel blessed every day that I made it, with all four of my limbs intact, but I know it was closing to losing everything.
Charity Comment:
It is clear from Kimberley’s brave but deeply poignant account of her experience of sepsis that she wishes that things could have been different. Whilst the ultimate outcome for her was positive, and Kimberley was reunited with her husband and small daughters, she nevertheless experienced symptoms that she hopes to help prevent for others.
New and expectant mothers so often put their own needs second. It was the intervention of Kimberley’s sister Katie that helped ensure that she got the treatment that she needed. This charity would always encourage pregnant women, new mums and those closest to them to trust their instincts and be vigilant about any symptoms that appear to be out of the ordinary, seeking medical help fast if they are at all concerned.
Kimberley’s road to recovery post sepsis has not been straightforward. This charity’s work in the field of post sepsis recovery is integral to improving that situation in the UK and elsewhere.
Sepsis Research FEAT is so grateful to Kimberley for sharing her story as part of this charity’s 2026 maternal sepsis awareness campaign. We wish her and her young family all the very best for the future