A new mom is sharing her story after she suffered a postpartum hemorrhage which nearly claimed her life. What was supposed to be a time of newborn bliss turned into a fight for survival for the new mom. Less than two weeks after giving birth to twins, she nearly died because of a postpartum hemorrhage. Now, she’s telling her story in hopes of bringing awareness to what she has learned since then.
In January, Kelsey Nelson was 38 weeks pregnant with twins and scheduled for a C-section. She was ready to undergo the major surgery because, by 38 weeks, she was in so much pain that she could no longer handle it. She mentally prepared herself for a tough journey, even expecting her babies to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit. She gave birth with her husband by her side to their baby boy and girl, Enzo and Ruth. Life after birth was not what she expected though. The twins did not have to spend time in the NICU, and their family went home three days after their birth. Before leaving the hospital, Nelson says she was told by a nurse that postpartum bleeding is normal, and to expect it for the next several days or even weeks. According to Newsweek, if she started passing blood clots bigger than a golf ball, she was advised to call the hospital. That important note is what would later save her life.
Nine days later, Nelson found herself sitting in the bathroom, feeling as if someone had “pushed the bleed button” on her uterus. She called the hospital for advice after remembering what the nurse told her, but then she started to feel faint, and her gut told her something was off. Nelson says she was soaking through adult diapers and underwent many tests, and later a blood transfusion. Hours later, doctors determined Nelson had suffered a postpartum hemorrhage.
According to Stanford Children’s Health, 1 in 100 to 5 in 100 women experience postpartum hemorrhage, and it is more common after a C-section. Nelson had to be stabilized and was able to see her babies and husband briefly before going to the intensive care unit. Nelson spent two nights in the ICU. The obstetrician says while in the operating room, the bleeding wouldn’t stop because her uterus would not contract. Nelson was only seconds away from having a hysterectomy, that’s when her uterus started contracting, and a hysterectomy was no longer needed.
Fast forward to now, the twins are 10 months old and everyone is healthy. Nelson says the experience has affected her greatly, and she is still working through the trauma of what happened. She wants other mothers to listen to the advice of medical professionals and always trust their gut instinct, she says.
Sources: Newsweek, Stanford Children's Health