In a heartbreaking Facebook post, Jean Luc Montou announced the birth of his son, Julian and Julian’s mother, Sarah Bertrand who passed away just 24 hours after giving birth to Julian.
Sarah Bertrand, died just 24 hours after giving birth to their son, Julian Charles.
“Afterward, she just silently dropped tears of joy and happiness,” Jean Luc said. “She loved Julian so much.”
But shortly afterward, Sarah began complaining of a headache and then appeared to have a seizure.
The hospital is still investigating the cause of her death, but they believe she suffered an amniotic embolism, an extremely rare childbirth complication that causes the heart and lungs to collapse as well as internal bleeding.
“Once the symptoms start showing, it’s already begun,” Jean Luc said. “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 had been waiting to announce Julian’s birth on social media, which left Jean Luc with the heartbreaking task of announcing both the birth and Sarah’s passing in the same post.
“We had both wanted a son so bad,” he said. “She worked hard during delivery and was excited to see Julian finally. Just 20 minutes before she died, Sarah said, ‘I have never loved anyone or anything as much as I love him — he’s like my favorite thing ever.’”
He said that when he initially posted about Sarah’s death he only intended it for those close to his family, but he has been overwhelmed to see how many people have since been touched by his words and reached out to offer their condolences. He’s happy to see that Sarah’s legacy will be kept alive.
The couple had planned to marry after Sarah recovered from the birth. Now Jean Luc says Jane and Julian are the two things holding his life together as he tries to figure out where to go from here. (A GoFundMe has been started to help the family get back on their feet.)
