New mom had C-section followed by heart surgery days apart

Article content

When she was seven months’ pregnant, Japleen Gill went into a heart clinic for pregnant moms at St. Paul’s Hospital for a routine checkup. She hadn’t been feeling well, with abdominal pain, indigestion and painful swelling of her hands and feet, all of which can be expected during pregnancy.

“It (pregnancy symptoms) just got really extreme,” said the Vancouver teacher, pregnant for the first time. “I thought I was going through a real difficult pregnancy.”

She also suffered from a broken foot, as well as a bad cough, “something I normally would have fought through,” but “I couldn’t sleep at all. I would just cough and cough.”

“Things were just getting worse and worse” in her second trimester, she recalled.

Gill was born with a faulty heart valve, with two instead of three doors. She had suffered no symptoms growing up and was healthy and active, but was being monitored by the hospital’s cardiac obstetrics clinic as a low-risk patient.

Article content

“They just put it all together and said I had endocarditis,” she said. “My heart condition was so mild. I would never think it would be my heart.”

The severe infection had destroyed the valve and had spread to the valve root. “One hundred per cent fatal” if not treated, according to St. Paul’s heart surgeon Dr. Jamil Bashir.

Low-risk moms have a visit before pregnancy and one around the 28- to 32-week mark, said clinic director Dr. Jasmine Grewal.

“I’m thankful we have that protocol in place,” she said. If untreated, the condition could have caused a heart attack or septic shock, she said.

Three days after her appointment, Gill’s baby boy, Jeevan, was born through a caesarean section, at 31 weeks, two months before expected. A team of 30 doctors, nurses and other specialists met earlier on Zoom to strategize her treatment and then in the operating room for the C-section.

“Oh my gosh, I looked like I was having a very unconventional pregnancy,” said Gill.

She was overwhelmed at the “teams and teams” of doctors from maternity, infectious diseases, cardiac and other specialties. She was at a high risk for cardiac arrest during delivery.

“I couldn’t believe it when my doctor told me, ‘You’re the sickest mom in the province,’ ” she said.

Before the delivery, her thoughts were with Jeevan, wishing he could have stayed in her womb longer, “swimming around and growing. He was going to have a rough start because he was a preemie. I knew my life was at risk but I felt more concerned for him.”

Article content

Jeevan was sent to recover in the neonatal ICU at B.C. Children’s with her husband, Gaurav, and she saw him by video and for two-hour day-pass visits over the next two weeks.

Three days after delivering, Gill had her valve replaced, and again there were 30 doctors and nurses, in whom she put her total faith.

“I was in the best of hands and everybody was there for the health of Jeevan and for me,” she said. “I was amazed to be in the presence of such great minds.

“Jeevan is going to have the most wonderful pregnancy and delivery story, being delivered by a roomful of professional heroes,” she said.

She missed early contact and “that was the hardest part, not being able to see him and missing out” on skin-to-skin contact bonding and breastfeeding. But she was happy Gaurav was there.

Back at home with Jeevan, now five months old, she’s grateful to all the doctors, nurses, specialists and health-care workers who came together during COVID-19 to do their jobs.

“I’m just so astonished at all the people who kept me alive,” she said. “They showed such compassion and professionalism. They made my pregnancy, which was the least normal pregnancy, the most normal pregnancy.

“It’s really all about them.”

slazaruk@postmedia.com

CLICK HERE to report a typo.

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.