'it was hell'
Ex On The Beach’s Melissa Reeves reveals she and Danny Simpson’s baby battled sepsis during terrifying labour
EX On The Beach's Melissa Reeves has revealed her nightmare labour after she and Danny Simpson's baby battled sepsis.
Melissa, 26, said the birth of their daughter last week was "complete torture and hell" and she was hospitalised for five days.
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Melissa was sent for a cesarean section after three days, but says she fell ill soon after her daughter's arrival.
She shared an update with fans on Instagram after recovering from the deadly infection and explained: "Lots of people have messaged asking why my baby & I had to stay in hospital for 5 days.
"So I've done a YouTube video just talking about my labour and explaining why we had to stay in the hospital. The link is in my bio."
She went on to recount her terrifying labour in a YouTube video, telling fans she struggled to dilate to 2cm for the majority of the time that she was in hospital.
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She told viewers: "I was so scared but as soon as I heard that baby cry it was like everything just went away. I wasn't scared anymore. Nothing mattered. And they pulled out the little curtain in front of me and I got to see the baby for the first time.
"It was so surreal that I forgot that I was just lying on a theatre table with my belly open. Nothing mattered. The pain I'd been going through for the past three days didn't matter. The love I felt was overwhelming."
However, after her baby was delivered safely, doctors discovered both mum and baby had a temperature and she began to feel faint.
She went on: "I was 39.6 degrees celsius. Baby had a temperature. I was going a bit faint. It turned out there was an infection in my womb."
Melissa and her daughter were treated with antibiotics and their infection rates finally went down, before they were allowed to go home.
What is sepsis?
Sepsis (also known as blood poisoning) is the immune system’s overreaction to an infection or injury.
Normally our immune system fights infection – but sometimes, for reasons we don’t yet understand, it attacks our body’s own organs and tissues.
Most often the culprit is an infection we all recognise - pneumonia, urinary infections (UTIs), skin infections, including cellulitis, and infections in the stomach, for example appendicitis.
If not treated immediately, sepsis can result in organ failure and death - yet with early diagnosis, it can be treated with antibiotics.
Sepsis can initially look like flu, gastroenteritis or a chest infection.
There is no one sign, and symptoms present differently between adults and children.
If you, a loved one, or in the case of medical professionals their patient, feels "severely sick", doesn't appear to be themselves and shows any of the following symptoms, sepsis should be suspected:
- Weakness
- Loss of appetite
- Fever and chills
- Thirst
- Difficult or rapid breathing
- Rapid heart rate
- Low blood pressure
- Low urine output
If a person is suffering these symptoms and they are thought to have suffered an infection - pneumonia, abdominal infection, urinary infection, or a wound - sepsis is a likely cause.
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She said her relief at hearing her baby cry made up for her painful labour.
She added: "They took baby away and gave baby some antibiotics. They gave me some antibiotics. We were treated for sepsis. That's why we were in hospital for 5 days."
Melissa, who had a brief romance with the former Premier League winner Danny, 33, revealed she had given birth last week.
She told fans on Instagram: "24/05/2020 My world changed forever 💞 my baby girl arrived right on her due date 💗 words can’t describe how in love with this little angel I am. I feel so happy and blessed. 👶🏼 🍼"
Danny Simpson expecting baby with Ex On The Beach star Melissa Reeves
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"I was in labour for 3 days, then we had to opt for a C section because it turns out she is one big baby, she’s 8lb 11!!"
It comes after she revealed in March that she was pregnant with Danny's daughter.
Danny, who won the Premier League title with Leicester City in 2016, paid for a lavish baby shower at Liverpool’s upmarket Hope Street hotel.
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