by A new mother has revealed she almost died after giving birth when she developed a flesh-eating bug in her C-section incision.
Amber DeWitt, 31, battled necrotizing fasciitis and was put into a coma after the arrival of her son Weston, now 1, in September 2023.
The aggressive condition, which eats away at healthy tissue, can prove fatal and resulted in a piece of Amber’s stomach the size of a softball being removed.
The mother-of-one and business owner, from Dallas, had a ‘healthy, normal pregnancy’ and had planned to give birth in the water, but was rushed into an emergency C-section after that her baby got stuck in the breach position.
Weston arrived on September 30, 2023 at 9:25 a.m., weighing 6 pounds 11 ounces.
A new mother has revealed she almost died after giving birth when she developed a flesh-eating bug in her C-section incision.
They were released two days later, but later in the week Amber became concerned when her incision continued to hurt.
It became more and more painful, and she eventually developed a high temperature.
She said: “I couldn’t go to the toilet so they knew my organs were shutting down. »
When she visited a local clinic, she said doctors told her it was a mild bacterial infection and sent her home with antibiotics.
She said: “They suggested I put a sanitary towel over the wound to help remove the moisture.
“In hindsight, I feel like this could have encouraged the bacteria to multiply.”
When the pain became unbearable, Amber returned to Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Dallas, where doctors discovered the terrifying truth.
They rushed her for emergency exploratory surgery, where they discovered she had sepsis and necrotizing fasciitis.
Amber DeWitt, 31, fell into a coma and battled necrotizing fasciitis after the arrival of her son, Weston, in September 2023.
The aggressive condition, which eats away healthy tissue, can prove fatal and resulted in Amber having to have a piece of her stomach the size of a softball removed.
The mother-of-one, from Dallas, was rushed for an emergency C-section after her baby got stuck in the breach position.
They suspected the infection had developed in the wound from her C-section.
Amber was in an induced coma for three days and underwent two more operations while she slept.
“My surgeon warned me it was a huge operation and that’s when I realized how serious it was. There was so much tissue dying and turning black that it had to keep cutting them,” she said.
“They had to stop it from spreading before it reached my vital organs.” I don’t remember anything during this period.
She underwent emergency surgery to remove the dying tissue, leaving her with an open wound three inches deep and approximately two inches long.
The mother added: “During the second operation, the doctors told my family that I was not going to survive.”
When she got home, she realized something was horribly wrong
Amber was in an induced coma for three days and underwent two more operations while she slept.
Doctors warned her husband, Andrew, 32, that she was “unlikely to survive”, but she defied all odds and woke up three days later.
Amber said: “The doctors didn’t think I would make it through the night. I had a newborn and my husband was saying goodbye.
“They had to cut off pounds of skin – it was the same amount as a softball. I am so grateful to be here and to be able to watch my son grow up.
She spent six days in intensive care and another eight days on a ward before finally being discharged.
Amber was visited by a nurse several times a week for the next six months to continue changing her dressings.
She said: “It was a very difficult time, I was a new mum and I couldn’t even hold my baby.
“They cut so much skin that it created a second wound because the skin was too tight to heal.” I was lucky to have such support around me.
Doctors warned her husband Andrew, 32, that she was “unlikely to survive”, but she defied the odds and woke up three days later.
Today, she is finally cured and is on a mission to encourage people to “listen” to their bodies if something is wrong.
After five surgeries and two weeks later, Amber returned home and was on the road to recovery.
She has since made a full recovery, but is left with a large scar on her lower abdomen after the traumatic incident.
She said: “I didn’t have health insurance and the cost of treatment dissuaded me from seeing a doctor sooner.
“I kept thinking it would get better and it didn’t. I ended up on Medicaid – which covered hospital bills and was backdated to the C-section.
“I found out I had racked up almost a million dollars in treatment. But your health isn’t worth worrying about a hospital bill: I postponed my departure and it almost cost me my life.
“I almost died and I would never be there for my son. In that sense, I’m lucky to be here.
Now she’s finally cured and on a mission to urge people to “listen” to their bodies if something doesn’t feel right.
