Colorado mother recounts near-death experience after childbirth emergency
A Colorado mother is speaking out about a life-threatening complication that occurred just hours after giving birth, describing a moment when she believes she briefly died before being brought back.
Hannah Mercado, 32, had just welcomed her second son in 2021 when her recovery took a sudden and severe turn. What initially appeared to be normal postpartum symptoms quickly escalated into a critical medical emergency.
“I had really bad stomach cramps and had some pretty big clots coming out,” Mercado said. “The nurse said it was totally normal, but then I got the most intense pain I’d ever felt before.”
She recalled the situation worsening rapidly. “Then there was blood everywhere and a blood clot came out of me that was the size of a pineapple,” she said.
Sudden complications after routine delivery
Doctors later determined that part of Mercado’s placenta remained in her uterus, requiring urgent medical intervention. She underwent procedures to address the issue, but her condition deteriorated soon after.
At one point, she found herself alone in her hospital room as the bleeding intensified. “I could feel that I was bleeding really heavily. Instinctively I knew something was wrong,” she said.
Moments later, her room filled with medical staff responding to the emergency. “Then there were 25 people in my room – nurses, doctors, anaesthesiologists – it was chaos,” Mercado said.
During the procedure, she began to hemorrhage uncontrollably, lost consciousness, and was later believed by doctors to have been clinically dead for about a minute.
Her heart stopped, and her blood pressure dropped as doctors worked to stabilize her condition.
“I thought I might be dying”
While unconscious, Mercado described what she believes was a near-death experience. She said she became aware that something was happening to her as she drifted away.
“I started really not feeling good then started floating above myself and thought, ‘Oh, I think I might be dying,’” she said.
From that vantage point, she recalled seeing medical staff surrounding her. “I could look down and see all these people working on me,” she said, noting that she could not see her own body clearly.
“It wasn’t like my body was floating, it was like my mind was floating away. I do believe it was my soul leaving my body,” Mercado said.
As the experience continued, her thoughts turned to her family. “I’m never going to see my kids again,” she remembered thinking, describing the moment as heartbreaking.
She then described encountering what she called an intense white light. “You could stare into the sun for minutes and it would never be this bright. It was all-encompassing… I felt so at peace,” she said.
The moment ended abruptly. “Then it felt like I was drop-kicked into being alive. It was very abrupt and sudden. I was in a panic,” she said.
Recovery and lasting impact
After regaining consciousness, Mercado required two blood transfusions, having lost roughly half of her body’s blood supply.
Despite the severity of the incident, she recovered fully and has reported no lasting physical complications.
She said the experience ultimately strengthened her faith and removed her fear of death.
“I’ve always been a Christian. This gave me even more of a realisation that I do believe in God and I was going up to heaven,” Mercado said.
“It made me realise the afterlife is real… I’m definitely not afraid of dying anymore.”
