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Published 15:09 01 Mar 2023 GMT
A Texas woman had to have her hands and feet amputated when she nearly died after giving birth to her daughter.
As reported by ABC News, 29-year-old Krystina Pacheco, from Pleasanton, welcomed her baby girl Amelia on October 24, 2022, after a terrifying C-section delivery.
Two days after returning home, the mother began feeling unwell and experienced shortness of breath. She thought that the symptoms were related to her recovery so she took ibuprofen as prescribed by a nurse.
However, Pacheco continued to feel sick so she visited a doctor, who ended up dispatching her to a local emergency room. She was then airlifted to a San Antonio hospital and was diagnosed with septic shock - an incredibly scary condition in which the body has an extreme response to infection.
"I just remember I couldn't breathe anymore and I couldn't see anymore and I just started slowly fading out," Pacheco told the outlet.
"My husband, I could just hear him saying, 'Please come back to us, please, your babies need you. I need you. I need you to be here and help me with our babies,' and that's the last thing I remember," she added, as cited by People.
The mother was given life-saving treatments to prevent the infection, but tragically, it cut off the circulation of blood to her hands and feet - resulting in the necessity to lose them.
"My hands and feet were black. They looked like a person who had gotten frostbite," Pacheco said, stating that the medical team had done everything possible to avoid getting to this point.
"I was just breaking down and being absolutely crushed," she said of the necessity for amputations, per Good Morning America. "And crying with my family, crying with Jacob, and just being sad that my life would no longer be the same."
Despite it all, Pacheco held her head high and saw her husband, daughter Amelia, and son Owen as her strength to get through the multiple surgeries.
Last month, she was able to reunite with her little family and said that they are "making those adaptations and adjusting," after her painful circumstances.
Speaking to Khou 11, Pacheco stated that the whole journey has been a "roller coaster" and added: "I'm not going to say I don't have my bad days because I do. It's an emotional thing to experience."
In addition to mothering her children, she shared that she's made improvements with personal care things that most people would take for granted.
"I've gotten into putting on makeup by myself, I put my contacts in by myself. Brush my hair," she shared with the publication.
