I didn’t recognise my own baby
I had to be put into a coma after giving birth…
It’d been plain-sailing up until 29 weeks. Pregnant with my first baby, I’d suddenly become unwell.
First my hands and feet swelled, but I knew that could happen to pregnant women.
Then I started getting really tired and had awful headaches.
Plus, I had an achy pain in my chest, just under my ribcage.
‘It feels a bit like heartburn,’ I told my husband David, 33.
My midwife gave me a urine test, which revealed high levels of protein in my wee. She said it was probably just a urine infection, and thought my chest pain was indigestion.
My symptoms got worse, so, a few weeks later, I saw a different midwife, who told me I showed signs of pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy-related condition.
She referred me to Torbay Hospital, where tests confirmed it. They’d have to deliver the baby.
Next day, last December, doctors tried to induce me, but with no luck…
Eventually, two days later, doctors had to perform a Caesarean, and Freya was born weighing 4lb 14oz.
Taken to a Special Care Baby Unit, she was given oxygen.
I must’ve blacked out as, next thing I knew, I was waking up in King’s College Hospital, London. My blood pressure had fallen after giving birth, so I’d had an emergency laparotomy, which showed my liver was failing. I’d been put into an induced coma and transferred to London for specialist care. ‘You needed a liver transplant,’ I was told. Incredibly, a match had been found quickly. Just days after giving birth, I’d had a liver transplant. Then after 15 days in a coma, I’d been brought round. If a donor hadn’t been found in time, I might not have made it. It was overwhelming. ‘Do you know who this is?’ a doctor asked, showing me a picture of Freya. I knew she must be my baby, but I didn’t recognise her. And I couldn’t recall much about giving birth.
Luckily, Freya had recovered now, and when David brought her in to see me, I felt an instant rush of love!
Emotional, I couldn’t stop beaming at her.
Doctors said I’d been suffering from HELLP syndrome – a variant of pre-eclampsia. It’s a rare liver and blood-clotting disorder that can affect pregnant women. Left untreated, it can be fatal. Doctors don’t know what caused my HELLP syndrome.
After physio to rebuild my strength, this January, I was allowed to go home.
I do have a higher risk of developing HELLP syndrome again. So if I have another baby, I’ll be monitored.
Now, I’m just enjoying being mum to Freya.
With family and friends, I’m raising funds for the hospitals that cared for us.
If it wasn’t for all the doctors and the liver donor, I wouldn’t be here now.
I’m a lucky mummy, in more ways than one!
Days after giving birth, I’d needed a liver transplant