For Jean Luc Montou and Sarah Bertrand, May 9 was one of the happiest days of their lives. Bertrand, 29, gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Julian Charles.
But just 24 hours after the delivery, Bertrand died in her hospital room as Montou held their baby.
Montou, who lives in Louisiana, says that while the hospital is still investigating the death, doctors suspect Bertrand suffered from an extremely rare childbirth complication that causes heart and lung collapse and internal bleeding. The condition is known as an amniotic embolism.
"Once the symptoms start showing, it's already begun," said Montou in a report by The Today Show, remembering that Bertrand complained of a headache and appeared to be having a seizure before she died. "I remember thinking it would be OK because we were in a hospital — and the staff tried so hard to help her — but I knew it was serious when they started doing compressions and began using the defibrillator."
The couple was waiting to announce Julian's birth for when they could take the baby home and snap photos of him in his nursery to post to their social media accounts. However, once Bertrand died, Montou posted a heartbreaking status, alerting friends and family that Julian had arrived, but Bertrand had died just hours later.
"Sarah didn't make it," Montou wrote in the viral post. "My last 24 hours with her was the happiest I'd ever been...I loved this woman like no other and she died in front of me while I held our son. Please take a few moments to remember this woman because she was the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me and Jane" — his 3-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
Approximately 700 to 900 women die each year from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes in the U.S.