'I don't know if I'm going to wake up' — Mothers share stories of pregnancy-related complications

Pregnancy, childbirth and new motherhood are supposed to be joyful times in a woman's life, but things don't always go as planned. 

Over the course of an investigation into maternal health, CBC interviewed nearly 70 women who either came close to dying or suffered lasting trauma during pregnancy or in the months immediately after. 

Many said they felt instinctively that something was wrong, but were told by health-care providers what they were experiencing was a normal part of pregnancy. Sometimes they didn't seek treatment because they were afraid their symptoms would be dismissed. 

Five women chose to share their stories in hopes of encouraging other expectant mothers to advocate strongly for themselves if they think something is wrong. 

Nine days after her third child was born, France Contant was sitting in her rocker nursing when she started having chest pain.   

"My husband saw that my whole upper body just kind of like, turned red, as if someone had a pink roller and painted me," she said, describing what felt like an elephant jumping on her chest. 

"Right then and there, I realized something really bad is happening." When her arms went numb, Contant called to her husband to grab the baby. 

"I can't feel my arms," she recalled telling him. "I'm probably going to drop her." 

Contant says emergency department staff at the Timmins hospital were "stumped" to see a healthy 29 year old with heart attack symptoms. 

The doctor on call happened to see Contant with her newborn and noticed that she also had high heart enzyme levels. "It was like a light switch," Contant said. 

The doctor was familiar with a rare type of heart attack caused by postpartum hormones known as spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD.

Contant endured a harrowing four-hour ambulance ride through a snowstorm to Subury's hospital to see a cardiologist. Several days later, doctors sent her to the Ottawa Heart Institute. There, she suffered a second heart attack, and underwent bypass surgery. 

"I'm told that my heart was black, and when they did the bypass, my heart turned bright red," Contant said.

"That doesn't normally happen. Usually black means that the muscle is dead and like it's not going to come back generally. But in my case … my heart has done super well."