A shock. An American woman woke up last August in a hospital in Texas, USA, with no memory of giving birth to triplets. She suffered rare complications after giving birth, as she told local CNN show KBTX on November 21.
On August 21, Marisa Christie, 30, arrived at a Houston maternity ward for a scheduled cesarean section. The birth proceeded normally and their three daughters, Charlotte, Kendall and Collins, were born.
But some time later, the Texan experienced several heart problems within 45 minutes, as well as seizures. According to doctors, the 30-year-old man suffered an amniotic fluid embolism.
Specifically, her amniotic fluid, which contains cells or tissue from the fetus, entered her bloodstream, causing a serious and life-threatening reaction. This is a rare syndrome, but it increases in cases of multiple births.
“It is 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
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 giving birth. Meanwhile, her husband and father of her children, Dylan Christie, is worried.
“It was the most difficult time 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 having a heart massage,'” he says, tears welling in his eyes. Finally, the thirty-year-old underwent a removal of her uterus that saved her life.
“How could I not remember?”
When she wakes up, Marisa Christie has no memory of her birth. “My husband told me, ‘We had babies. They’re 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 snapped.
Surprised, the thirty-year-old confesses that she then needs time to assimilate 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,” he explains.
Four children under 5 years old at home
The American gradually recovered from her stroke and was able to return home where she resumed the course of her life. Now, the Christies are at the head of a large family: their three daughters have joined their older brother, who is 4 years old. They are now parents of four children under 5 years old.
“I have become stronger, (…) living a traumatic experience like this changes our way of seeing things,” the mother says today.
If their daily life is sometimes chaotic, the two Americans measure their luck. “In these difficult times I try to remind myself that I missed almost everything, to put things in perspective,” says Marisa Christie.
Source: BFM TV
