In early 2020 mum of two, Olivia Gough from Belfast, NI, had been married a year and was expecting her first child, Amy. Just 24 years old at the time, the former primary school teacher had no knowledge of sepsis or of how things were about to unfold. She shares her story to help other new and expectant mums here.
When I gave birth to my first child Amy on 13th January 2020 I felt fine to begin with – just a bit tired but nothing concerning. In the days after her birth I started feeling worse by the day. By day 3 I knew something wasn’t right. On day 4, back at home, I mentioned to my midwife when she visited my house that I felt unwell and that I was feeling achy and faint. She put it down to blood loss during birth. By the Sunday evening (19th January) I was feeling very unwell and I mentioned it to my husband James who suggested that I call the GP the following morning.
On the morning of the 20th January, I rang the GP and she asked me to come in at 11am. I went in and she took my blood pressure, temperature and heart rate, She said that I had an elevated temperature and high heart rate but low blood pressure. She told me to go to the emergency obstetrics department straight away. I rang the emergency obstetric unit and they told me not to worry and to get my lunch first and sort out childcare. When I went to the hospital, I was seen quickly and the doctor was called immediately. They did blood tests and samples from my breast milk. They then immediately started IV antibiotics and oxygen.
I had overheard the midwife on the phone telling the doctor she was worried that I might have sepsis and that I had all of the signs. When she called the doctor, blood tests were taken and treatment was started. When the blood tests came back the diagnosis was confirmed in person, in the emergency obstetric unit of Ulster Hospital, Belfast.
At the time I was confused. I was struggling to remain conscious and was not fully aware of what was happening. My husband was very worried about me and stayed with me for the week I was in hospital. My parents were also worried and came to visit every day over the following week, as I was treated using multiple different IV antibiotics of increasing strength, plus misoprostol. I then had a month of oral antibiotics oral antibiotics after I was discharged from hospital.
James helped me to care for our new-born daughter as I was unable to get out of bed whilst in hospital. I then struggled with severe fatigue in the following months.
At the point I was diagnosed I felt really uncertain. I was told that I was close to septic shock, and my infection markers continued to increase for the first few days on the IV antibiotics. The misoprostol that was being used to stem the heavy bleeding that I was experiencing actually appeared to make it worse – I had also retained some placenta which had become infected. So I was told to prepare for a blood transfusion and surgery, which fortunately were later not needed.
These days, nearly five years on, I still suffer from tiredness, aches and pains, and brain fog. I feel like my mental sharpness never returned and I find it takes longer to do cognitive tasks.
Learning about the charity Sepsis Research FEAT has been good as its been useful to understand more about post sepsis symptoms. I am keen to share my story with the charity to raise greater awareness of maternal sepsis, as it is easy for new mothers and healthcare professionals to dismiss post-partum illness as normal after-birth complications.
It is so important that new mothers know that if they don’t feel well after giving birth, they should contact a medical professional urgently. A simple blood test can prevent an infection from becoming unmanageable. Trust your gut and be willing to get a second opinion if you feel you need it.
Charity comment:
We are so grateful to Olivia for working with this charity to share the story of her post-natal sepsis and delighted that she made the recovery that she did.
What her story highlights clearly is the importance and value, firstly of recognising the potential symptoms of sepsis as early as possible and secondly of trusting your instincts, as both Olivia and her husband James did.
Despite the rapid diagnosis and treatment that Olivia received, she was nevertheless impacted by lingering health effects post sepsis.
Both maternal sepsis and post sepsis symptoms are areas of increasing focus for Sepsis Research FEAT, and ones that we will return to in our awareness messaging and research commitments increasingly in future.