A mum was moments away from slipping into a coma three days after giving birth as part of her placenta was left in her womb causing her to develop sepsis.
Natalie Morgan, 38, was hallucinating and had “grey skin” after the remaining placenta began poisoning her body.
The business manager, from Birmingham, welcomed daughter Robin into the world in August 2020, weighing 7lb 10oz.
She was given two routine injections to rid her body of the placenta just hours after giving birth, before being sent home to rest with her family.
But three days later, the mum was rushed to hospital, where doctors discovered she had developed an infection from the leftover placenta, causing life-threatening bleeding – and she was just minutes away from slipping into a coma.
“The hallucinations were horrible. It felt like I was floating,” Natalie told Jam Press.
“Apparently I was telling the paramedics about trips to Blackpool.
“I felt completely like an ice cube but apparently I was burning up and tried to stop the paramedics from taking the blankets off me when they arrived.”
Natalie, who was already mum to son Dexter, four, and step-mum to Teddy, seven, and Belle, six, found out she was expecting her second child with husband Aiden, 32, at the start of 2020 and was looking forward to her growing family.
Natalie said: “Although I had morning sickness throughout the pregnancy there didn’t seem anything to worry about.
“I was induced a week early as I had shortness of breath but once Robin was here she was perfect and healthy and took to her first feed.”
After giving birth, Natalie was given the injection to speed up the delivery of the placenta, but nothing happened.
She said: “The hospital told me I may need a trip to theatre if the placenta doesn’t come away. They gave me a second injection and still nothing happened.
“Then a female doctor used her hands internally and told me to push, which I did. The placenta ruptured.
“The staff started piecing this together and kept me on the bed for a few hours incase anymore placenta came out. They’d told me, after a second opinion, they believed it was all there.
“We could see remnants up the walls and on the chairs but at this point, I was happy to go to the ward.
“Due to my pelvic pain, I could barely walk and bled quite a lot on the ward but this can be quite normal after a natural birth.
“I was on the ward for only five to six hours before being released due to covid restrictions. I was wheelchaired down to my husband with Robin as I really struggled to walk.
“The nurses told me to look out for any clotting and was sent home.
“I should have listened to my body because it did feel like something was very wrong but I just wanted to stay with my baby!”
But when Robin was just three days old, Natalie found herself struggling to walk and had problems breathing.
With her body “feeling like an ice cube”, a delirious Natalie ran herself a boiling hot bath and she couldn’t sense the scalding temperature, prompting her carpenter Aiden to call 999.
She said: “We had some visitors. Looking back, they’d all I looked poorly.
“On the arrival of my best friend Emma, I’d started to feel very cold. My bottom lip started to quiver and my whole body felt like an ice cube. Emma was talking to my husband and holding Robin so I went for a hot bath.
“I hadn’t realised but the bath was almost scolding hot.
“Emma, came up and concerned we rang the triage as I was bleeding still quite heavily and my skin went a greyish colour.
“At this point, I was desperate not to go to hospital due to how traumatic the labour was and just wanted to be home with my family.
“There was an urge I had similar to labour to push. My husband wrapped me in blankets and called his best friend’s mum who is a nurse. Yvonne came and called 111, told them my blood pressure wasn’t right.
“At this point, I’m hallucinating. I’m being told I was hot to touch but still felt absolutely freezing. An ambulance was called after Yvonne’s insistence and I was told my temperature was 42 degrees.
“They told my husband I could slip into a coma and was blue lighted to hospital.”
At hospital, a scan revealed debris in her uterus and Natalie was told she would need surgery and two blood transfusions.
She said: “I was nervous but not scared. I’d have numerous operations over the years and just wanted to get home to my family.
“Although I knew I was poorly, I was in no doubt I’d get through it. The lovely staff in the operating theatre were reassuring and kind. When I woke, I was surrounded by a large team.
“I could see blood being pumped into me and glanced over a staff member holding my hand. I could see from the stats that my blood pressure was seriously low.
“The surgeon had told me that there was a significant amount of placenta remaining. When I returned to the ward, I was slipping in and out of consciousness and the staff were desperately trying to get my stats to balance.
“My heart rate was too fast, my blood pressure dangerously low and the temperature still high.”
The next thing Natalie remembers is waking up in intensive care, where they told her it was sepsis – a life-threatening reaction to an infection.
She said: “I didn’t feel right, I couldn’t breathe properly and I was all alone.
“I was told the microbiologists had to quickly test blood to find the right antibiotics to treat it. They tried several attempts and thankfully found the right one.
“The staff in ITU were incredible.”
Two days later, she was told she had also developed pneumonia, which is linked to sepsis.
Luckily, the treatment worked quickly and after spending a week in hospital, Natalie returned home.
The sepsis also returned six months later but she was able to fight it once again.
Since her ordeal, she has undergone weekly counselling and is now on anxiety medication to help her cope.
She said: “I hadn’t realised how much a toll this had taken on my body and my mind.
“I’m so glad my family pushed for me to go back to hospital.
“I now suffer from PTSD from it all. I get completely paranoid whenever I’m cold.
“When I was in hospital I was petrified daily of leaving the children and felt immense guilt that I was to blame for almost dying!
“I’d like other people to look out for signs and act quickly on them.
“If I’d left it any later, I wouldn’t be here now.”
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