I am 29 years old and I have three children. I have an 11-year-old son, a 10-year-old daughter and the newest edition to the family, a second daughter who is just about to turn 1. It is this last birth that I want to tell my story about.

At 35.5 weeks pregnant I started to get swelling in my feet, and after having two others I knew that swelling could mean high blood pressure so I went to my doctor to get my blood pressure checked. After having normal blood pressure my whole pregnancy so far I was quite surprised when he told me that my blood pressure was high and I had traces of protein in my urine. Once this was confirmed I called my obstetrician and he told me to come straight in to his office so he could check me over as well.

My husband and I went and he told me that my blood pressure was only slightly high so not to worry and go home but before I went home he asked to me to get a blood test done just to make sure all was OK and he told me he would call me the next day with the results.

The next morning he called me and said that my blood tests revealed that I had severe pre-eclampsia and that I would have to have the baby the next day. It was Friday that I got this news and that night the hospital I was booked into called me and advised that I was booked in for 1 p.m. to be induced. When I got this news I was shocked and I guess at the time I wasn't that scared because I was two days away from being 36 weeks so I knew that the baby would be fine. I was, however, very scared of the labor to come and having been through it twice before I was not looking forward to it.

On Saturday morning my husband and I dropped our other two kids off at a friend's place and made our way to the hospital and by now I really was scared. When we got there I started to cry because I didn't feel like I was ready and this was not how I wanted it to happen. I was very lucky, though, as the midwives were very comforting and made me feel comfortable and relaxed.

At 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, September 23, 2006, I was sitting in the labor room and my doctor turned up to start the induction. He first gave me an internal to see if he could break my waters and I was 3 centimeters dilated so that was easy. After he broke my waters he also got a Pitocin drip started to make it all happen as quickly as possible.

My second baby, who is now 10, was born in only one hour and 20 minutes so I was hoping this one would go just as quickly. My husband was fantastic as he kept talking to me and trying to keep my mind off things, but it only took about 10 minutes before the contractions started. They were bearable for a while but they became very strong and close together very quickly.

By about 2:45 p.m. I was not coping with the pain and asked for Pethidine, which the midwife went and got for me. She gave that to me straight away and only a few minutes later I wanted to push so she gave me an internal exam and told me that I was fully dilated and could push whenever I wanted.

I began pushing and my second daughter, Jacinta Isabella, was born at 3 p.m. weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces. I got my wish. The birth only took one hour and 45 minutes.

When she was born she didn't cry, but they said she was breathing OK and she was doing well considering she was four weeks and two days early. They took Jacinta away after a few minutes as she had to go to special care and be monitored and I had to be stitched up a bit as well. Just then my doctor arrived so he missed the birth but the midwives I had were wonderful and did a great job.

My doctor then stitched my up and I thought that it was all over and the Pethidine has just started to kick in so I was getting tired and wanted to rest and that is when the drama really started. The midwives were pushing on my stomach to get any excess blood out after the placenta was delivered and there was a lot of blood coming out with each push, which is not normal as it is meant to slow down. They kept monitoring me for a while and pushing on my stomach every few minutes and each time they did I would have a gush of blood.

After a while they got concerned and called my doctor back in, who did an internal to see if I had a tear high up inside that needed repairing. This procedure was extremely painful so he had to stop and told me that the best option would be for me to go to the operating theater to get checked properly. But he assured me that it was no big deal and everything was fine.

Once I got down to the theater the anesthetist was not happy just giving me a spinal block so I was advised that I would be put totally under. The next thing I remember was waking up the next day in intensive care with my husband sitting beside my bed. I had been transferred to another hospital and was not able to see my baby girl.

I was told later what happened was once I was put under anesthetic the bleeding would not stop and my doctor realized that the bleeding was coming from the main artery that fed my uterus, which usually seals up after the birth. My artery didn't seal up and just kept bleeding and my doctor and the rest of the team worked on me for over an hour trying to get the bleeding to stop doing everything in their power. If the bleeding did not stop I would have had to have a hysterectomy to save my life.

During the operation I lost half of my blood volume and was given numerous blood transfusions and fluids. I was told later that I was so close to death that the doctors team started to get very anxious and were advising to do the hysterectomy ASAP, but my doctor did not want to take the uterus of a 28-year-old if he could help it. He did everything he could and I finally stopped bleeding just minutes prior to having the hysterectomy. I was then transferred to intensive care where I continued to receive blood and fluids for the next 24 hours.

When I was told what had happened I found it hard to believe that I was so close to either death and a hysterectomy just from having a baby. That is when they also told me that the reason for the complication was that I had pre-eclampsia that developed into HELP syndrome.

I then spent the next five days in the hospital on blood pressure medication and had to be monitored closely until I was well enough to go home. My baby girl also had to stay in special care for the entire time until she gained weight because she lost weight and didn't gain it back due to her being premature and wanting to sleep and not feed properly.

Jacinta is about to turn 1 and I have loved every minute of having her, and her older brother and sister absolutely adore her as do her mum and dad. So please anyone who is pregnant be very careful. If something isn't right don't delay in getting to a doctor because things can turn bad very quickly. I'm sorry my story is so long but I hope it helps other people to understand how dangerous having a baby can be.