Pregnant bride dies after suffering stroke moments before wedding, baby saved

Jessica Guedes, 30, a nurse, was six months pregnant and apparently healthy when she fell ill in the limo on the way to the church last Sunday in São Paulo.

At first her family thought she was suffering from anxiety due to wedding nerves after she complained of feeling dizzy with pains in her neck.

Because of this, the entourage was running late and they were unaware the victim was suffering from the pre-eclampsia which would shortly rob her of her young life and motherhood.

The bride was declared brain dead by doctors shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition which can go unnoticed in pregnant women or those who have just given birth.

It causes high blood pressure and significant amounts of protein in the urine meaning red blood cells break down and eventually leads to seizures and liver and kidney failure.

Given the severity of the case, the medical team performed an emergency C-section to save the 29-week-old baby's life and the young mom, who had been declared brain dead, died after the operation.

Sophia was born weighing 2.05 pounds and is 13.5 inches long and is in the neonatal intensive care unit. She is likely to be in the hospital for at least two months.

A relative of the victim, said: “Jessica was attending prenatal care, had no high blood pressure during her pregnancy and was healthy, doing physical activity and eating well.”

this is sad.

One thing that this life has taught me at this late date, is that mid 20th century values of marrying before pregnancy, mothers at home, pre birth instead of working or under stress, home taking care of children until they are launched’. family meals, visits to extended family, sunday dinners with friends and families, church attendence, one family car,

all made for nice lives and strong connections.

When my niece and her husband conceived their triplet daughters just three months after giving birth to their first daughter she was very closely monitored for preeclampsia since she had some HBP issues, although not full blown preeclampsia with their first, but she did have a very long labor that stopped progressing and when her blood pressure rose and the baby’s heartbeat started to drop after 32 hours in labor, it necessitated an emergency C-section, that and her first born with her former husband was born 2 months premature so there was a lot of concern about the triplet pregnancy but she found a high risk OBY and a hospital that could handle such a complicated and high risk birth.

So with the triplets, she had nearly weekly urine tests to look for proteins and weekly BP readings taken. She also had to be given weekly hormone shots through most of her pregnancy to prevent early labor and because it was so high risk, was hospitalized a full month prior to her scheduled C-section at 32 weeks. Just after giving birth to the “Triumvirates” or the “minions” as we like to call them, she had to get shots of magnesium to reduce the chance of seizure.

But I also understand that sometimes preeclampsia can come on very suddenly. My nephew’s wife with their first child was such a case.

His wife had never prior to or during her pregnancy had any HBP readings or any high protein urine tests during her pregnancy, and she was on the thin side, very fit and very healthy, excellent diet and got plenty of pregnancy appropriate exercise. But in the last few days before delivery she had some swelling around her ankles but was told it was normal. It wasn’t until she went into labor that things started to go wrong, potentially very wrong. During labor her BP sky rocketed through the roof but her labor had progressed too far at that point for a C-section. Fortunately, she and baby came out fine but she and she didn’t have such issues with their second child. Except that during her second pregnancy it was discovered that she had developed cataracts.

About six months after she gave birth she underwent surgery for cataracts and at 29 years old. When she went to the ophthalmology surgery center, she said she was the only patient there under 70 years old. And she’s also now on HBP meds and probably will be for life.

she wasn’t “apparently healthy” since she became ill - illness doesn’t just spring up inyou instantaneously.

Um. No. Preeclampsica is not a “chronic illness” that develops over time. Rather it is a pregnancy complication for which the symptoms can come on very suddenly prior to or shortly after giving birth.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/preeclampsia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355745

While it can occur in women who already have a history of HBP or who are obese or have had prior pregnancies with preeclampsia, it can also happen to women who are perfectly healthy and have had no HBP readings or protein in their urine during pregnancy. Yes, it can “spring up” very suddenly as it did with my nephew’s wife with her first baby, it didn’t come on until she was in full labor (although she did experience some swelling around her ankles, this is often normal and while can be a sign of preeclamsia, that alone is not necessarily a sign for great concern).

In the past it was not unusual for women to die as a result, of course back when, there was a high mortality rate for mothers and often their baby’s from birth complications and there was no treatment for it or way to detect its onset early as there is today in most cases.

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