Samantha had an uneventful pregnancy and delivery eight months ago, so it shocked everyone when she had a life-threatening complication four weeks later.
In October 2024, a month after welcoming her baby, Zuma, she began to bleed profusely, eventually losing four liters of blood, almost everything in her body.
As doctors rushed to save her life, her eyes closed, and everything faded to black. She could feel herself dying.
‘It was silent and dark, and I was just simply at peace,’ she said. ‘I didn’t feel anything, and in my mind, I knew that I was dying, but I wasn’t scared. It felt like I was just going to sleep.’
In that moment, she didn’t see the tunnel of light or deceased loved ones she was expecting, but she felt an immense peace take over.
Doctors found that Samantha had a pseudoaneurysm – a collection of blood outside of a blood vessel, which, given the proximity to her C-section, was considered a delayed postpartum hemorrhage – or excessive bleeding after birth.
Samantha spent a week in the ICU following the emergency, missing some of the early days of her daughter’s life as she slowly recovered from the ordeal.
‘Once I was aware enough to realize that I was in the ICU, and that my daughter wasn’t with me, it was so sad,’ she said: ‘She was only four weeks old and we both needed each other – we were still in the new mommy/baby phase and we were bonding. I just wanted to see her and hold her.’
Four weeks after welcoming baby Zuma, she began to bleed profusely, eventually losing four liters of blood
Samantha’s pregnancy and most of her labor had gone smoothly, but an emergency C-section was needed when her baby’s heart rate dropped.
Although she experienced minor bleeding after the surgery, she recovered well. However, four weeks later — the morning after she and her husband marked the anniversary of their first date — she woke up in a terrifying condition.
She said: ‘I woke up at 5am to a wet, gushing feeling. I looked down and was absolutely covered in blood. My shorts and legs were soaked, and the blood had also soaked through my sheets, mattress topper, and mattress.
‘Because I had already hemorrhaged in the hospital, I knew what was happening. This time was just so much worse.’
At the hospital, doctors rushed her into surgery and administered multiple blood transfusions while she fell in and out of consciousness.
‘Apparently, at some point, the bleeding got worse and I began to crash,’ she said. ‘My pulse dropped down to 52, my hemoglobin level dropped to a three, a crash cart was brought out, and I just knew that I was dying.
‘In an awake state during this, I shouted out to my husband that I loved him more than anything and to take care of our new baby.’
That was the moment she felt her life slipping away.
As doctors worked to save her life that October day, Samantha lost consciousness and felt herself slipping away. Everything went dark and quiet, and though she sensed she was dying, she wasn’t afraid—it felt calm, almost like drifting off to sleep
While Samantha was unconscious, doctors rushed her into surgery. They found a blockage and weakened blood vessel (an aneurysm) in her right uterine artery, which was causing the bleeding.
To stop it, they performed a procedure called a Bilateral Uterine Artery Embolisation — where the blood supply to the uterus is deliberately reduced — using an absorbable sponge to block the artery, like a temporary cork.
A surgeon was kept on standby in case an emergency hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) was needed, something Samantha and her husband, Louie, hoped to avoid to preserve their chance of having more children.
The four-hour surgery worked, but Samantha spent a week in intensive care, missing some of her baby’s early days as she recovered.
‘Once I was aware enough to realize that I was in the ICU, and that my daughter wasn’t with me, it was so sad,’ she added.
‘I kept asking my husband to bring her to see me, but we decided together that she shouldn’t be coming to the ICU around all those germs. Coming home was the best feeling ever.’
Samantha described the lasting trauma she experienced after the ordeal, saying she struggled with severe PTSD. For months, she barely ate or slept, was plagued by nightmares, and felt anxious about being too far from the hospital in case she started bleeding again.
She cried daily, suffered frequent panic and anxiety attacks, and constantly checked for signs of bleeding, sometimes even feeling phantom sensations.
Samantha described the lasting trauma she experienced after the ordeal, saying she struggled with severe PTSD
Samantha Mangilit with daughter Zuma and husband Louie. After waking up from surgery, all she wanted was to hold her baby
In the months that followed, she underwent several scans to ensure no new aneurysms had developed, and after six months, her blood count finally returned to normal.
Still, the experience left her fearful about the risks of future pregnancies and whether something similar could happen again.
‘I want more babies, and because my case was so rare, I don’t really have answers,’ she said.
‘Could this happen to me again? Yes. Could this happen during a future pregnancy? Yes. Was this aneurysm brought on because of my pregnancy? Nobody knows.’
A hemorrhage is relatively rare, affecting 0.2 percent to 2.5 percent of postpartum women.
After all she has been through, the artist has a whole new appreciation for life that she is taking with her into the future.
‘I know it is so cliché, but this gave me a new perspective on life. I feel like I am a lot more chill, and things really don’t bother me as much, because I know what could have been,’ she said.
‘So what if I’m stuck in traffic or if my phone dies – I’m alive!’