At five months pregnant, Claudia Wong knew it was normal to be uncomfortable some of the time. But she couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong.
The Pickering, Ont., woman had already gained about 14 pounds, significant on her small frame. She’d become so swollen her legs were “like sausages” when she tried to put on pants. Her vision sometimes blurred.
Wong, who works in health care, mentioned everything to her obstetrician, but said she was told to “watch and wait.”
One night in October 2019, Wong had painful, fiery heartburn that no amount of antacid would dispel. She considered going to the hospital, but “it just felt like another thing that people would have brushed off,” she explained.
Instead, she and her husband, Denis Beaulne, checked into a float spa to relax. When Wong took a long time in the change room, the attendant unlocked the door and Beaulne found his wife passed out in the shower.
