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 fell into a coma after the arrival of her now one-year-old son, Weston, in September 2023.
The aggressive condition, which eats away at healthy tissue, can be fatal and a softball-sized piece of Amber’s stomach has been removed.
The Dallas mother of one and business executive had a “healthy, normal pregnancy” and had planned a water birth, but she was rushed for a C-section after her baby got stuck in the breach position.
Weston arrived at 9:25 a.m. on September 30, 2023, weighing 5 lbs.
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 discharged for two days, but later that week Amber became concerned when her incision continued to hurt.
It became more and more painful and eventually she developed a high fever.
She said: ‘I couldn’t go to the toilet so they knew my organs were failing.’
When she visited a local clinic, she said doctors told her it was a mild bacterial infection and sent her home on antibiotics.
She said: ‘They suggested I put sanitary pads over the wound to help reduce the fluid.
‘In retrospect, I have the feeling that this allows bacteria to breed more.’
When the pain became unbearable, Amber returned to Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Dallas, where doctors discovered the terrifying truth.
They rushed her to emergency surgery, where they discovered she had developed 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 attacks healthy tissue, can be fatal and require Amber to have a softball-sized piece of her stomach removed
Dallas mother of one was rushed to emergency C-section after her baby got stuck in breach position
They suspected that the infection had developed in her cesarean section wound.
Amber was placed in a medically 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 they had to keep cutting away,” she said.
‘They had to stop it from spreading before it hit my vital organs. I don’t remember anything from this time.’
She underwent emergency surgery to remove the dying tissue, which left her with a two-inch deep and approximately two-inch open wound.
The mother added: ‘During the second operation, the doctors told my family that I would not survive.’
When she went home, she realized something was terribly wrong
Amber was placed in a medically induced coma for three days and underwent two more operations while she slept
Doctors warned her 32-year-old husband, Andrew, that she was ‘unlikely to survive’, but she defied the odds and woke up three days later.
Amber said: ‘The doctors didn’t think I would survive the night. I had a newborn baby and my husband said goodbye.
‘They had to cut away kilos of skin, it was as much as a softball. I am so grateful that I get to be here and watch my son grow up.”
She spent six days in intensive care and a further eight days in a ward before she was finally discharged.
Amber was visited by a nurse several times a week for the next six months to continue changing her bandages.
She said: ‘It was a very difficult time, I was a new mum and couldn’t even hold my baby.
‘They cut away so much skin that a second wound was created because the skin was too tight to heal. I was lucky to have such great support around me.”
Doctors warned husband Andrew, 32, that she was ‘unlikely to survive’ but she defied the odds and woke up three days later
Now she’s finally healed and is on a mission to encourage people to ‘listen’ to their bodies when something isn’t right
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 stomach following the traumatic incident.
She said: ‘I had no health insurance and the cost of treatment deterred me from seeking medical help sooner.
‘I kept thinking it would get better, but it didn’t. I ended up getting Medicaid, which covered the hospital bills and went back to the c-section.
“I found out I had made almost a million dollars in treatment. But your health isn’t worth worrying about getting a hospital bill – I put it off and it almost cost me my life.
‘I almost died and would never have been here for my son. In that sense I’m lucky to be here.’
Now she has finally recovered and is on a mission to encourage people to ‘listen’ to their bodies when something is wrong.