Lizzy Ryan

In August 2022 aged 26 and 31 weeks pregnant I began to feel very unwell with excruciating pain in my upper abdomen and a temperature of 38.5 degrees celsius. I contacted the maternity hospital I had been attending and I was advised to go to their A&E. I was examined and sent to the antenatal ward for monitoring. I was transferred to the High Dependency Unit the next day and by then I had a temp of over 40 and needed to be transferred to another hospital to see a surgical team. (Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth)

When I arrived I was told I had sepsis and throughout the night I was unable to breath without the assistance of a warm oxygen machine and given a half an hour before I was going to be put on a ventilator. I had to have an emergency c-section so that the doctors could find where the infection cause the sepsis was and so that they could treat me with the possibility of saving myself and my unborn son. I was diagnosed with chickenpox, pneumonia and sepsis and my premature baby had traces of sepsis in his system.

Luckily we both recovered quickly but I now suffer from post sepsis syndrome and ptsd.