May is Maternal Health Month – a time to raise awareness of the risks mothers can face during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period.
Victoria Sheppard is sharing her story to highlight the importance of recognising maternal sepsis symptoms after childbirth, and the need for mothers to be heard when they feel something isn’t right.
Victoria developed sepsis just five days after giving birth to her baby girl, Lydia, via caesarean section.
She said: “I was a new mum, newly postpartum, and home from hospital. I felt so much pain. I felt extremely sleepy, extremely sick, and I couldn’t keep anything down. I felt like I was dying – but worst of all, I felt completely unheard.”
Victoria says she knew sepsis was serious, but didn’t know the symptoms well enough to recognise them in herself or realise how fast things could deteriorate.
“I called the midwife ward to tell them I had a temperature, I felt very unwell, I was vomiting a lot, and I was sweating through my bed at night – only to be told it was hormones,” she said. “If I hadn’t used my instinct and initiative to ring 111, I would have slept on it and probably wouldn’t have woken up.”
Victoria describes experiencing several red flag symptoms, including muscle pain, a rash, fast breathing, shivering, slurred speech, and a sense of impending doom. She credits 111 with saving her life.
However, afterwards, she struggled with a lack of support. Victoria said: “In terms of support after, I would say I got no support. It’s only through a conversation a few months ago with someone who also experienced sepsis I was able to hear about the website and podcast run by the UK Sepsis Trust.”
Victoria says she became determined to learn as much as she could about sepsis and how it can present after childbirth. She said: “I obsessively researched postpartum infections and what medical students are taught. A temperature after a c-section is the first thing they are told to look out for after birth!”
She now urges others, especially expectant mothers, to do their research and trust their instincts: “Be well-versed in medical information before any planned medical intervention. And if it’s unplanned, know the early signs of infection and how they can manifest. Always trust your instincts and your body – because you will know when something is very wrong.”
Victoria says that although she feels fortunate compared to others with longer recovery journeys, the mental impact of her experience has been significant. She said: “What has impacted me the most is the long-term mental effect it has had on me – the PTSD-like symptoms, the anxiety I experienced during recovery, and the long-term physical effects such as poor circulation and an elevated heart rate.
“I would say my mental health has come on so much since my stay in hospital of course. But there are elements where I will still have flashbacks, or PTSD-like symptoms that will come to mind on occasion. I do have a niggling fear of becoming ill again, or any kind of infection becoming septic, however it just means I’m on high alert for symptoms and signs when either myself or anyone I know is ill. I do think back on my time in hospital at least once a day, when I’m near a hospital, when I see an ambulance, when someone has a baby, when I’m talking to people about motherhood and postpartum, etc.
“But this experience also shaped me into the person I am today. It actually helped me become a better person – so in some ways, I’m grateful for it.”
