In Texas, Marisa Christie gave birth to triplets at the end of August. She then developed complications and spent a week unconscious. When she woke up, she had forgotten that she had given birth.
A shock. An American woman woke up last August in a hospital in Texas, US, with no memory of giving birth to triplets. She suffered rare complications after giving birth, as she told CNN’s local KBTX on November 21.
On August 21, Marisa Christie, 30, arrived at a maternity ward in the city of Houston to undergo a planned cesarean section. The birth went normally and her three daughters, Charlotte, Kendall and Collins, were born.
But some time later, the Texan experienced various heart problems within 45 minutes, as well as seizures. According to doctors, the 30-year-old suffered an amniotic fluid embolism.
Specifically, her amniotic fluid, which contains cells or tissue from the fetus, entered her bloodstream, causing a serious and potentially fatal reaction. This is a rare syndrome, but increased in cases of multiple birth.
“It’s an exposure that causes a reaction in the mother’s body that resembles a very serious allergic reaction,” explains Dr. Amber Samuel, who followed Marisa Samuel.
Unconscious for a week
The doctors quickly understood what syndrome was affecting the American woman and managed to stabilize her condition. Marisa Christie, however, spent a week unconscious, sedated after her delivery. Meanwhile, her husband and father of her children, Dylan Christie, is worried.
“It was the most difficult moment of my life,” he says.
“We went from having the most beautiful experience when we saw our little girls for the first time to ‘Oh my God, my wife… they’re giving her a cardiac massage,'” he says, the tears in my eyes. Finally, the thirty-year-old undergoes an ablation of the uterus which saves her life.
“How could I not remember?”
When she wakes up, Marisa Christie has no memory of her delivery. “My husband told me: ‘We had babies. They are healthy and in great shape,'” she told USA Today a few months later.
“I was absolutely terrified. (…) How could I not remember that I had my babies?”, she blurted.
In shock, the thirty-year-old confides that she then needs time to integrate the news. “My family took a lot of photos and videos of me when I was in the hospital, which really helped me cope with reality,” she explains.
Four children under 5 at home
The American gradually recovered from her embolism and was able to return home where she resumed the course of her life. Now, the Christie couple are at the head of a large family, their three daughters having joined their big brother, aged 4. They are now parents of four children under the age of 5.
“I have become stronger, (…) living a traumatic experience like this changes the way we see things”, assures the mother today.
If their daily life is sometimes chaotic, the two Americans measure their luck. “I try to remind myself in these difficult times that I missed almost everything so it puts things in perspective,” assures Marisa Christie.
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