(Gray News) – A family in Utah is grieving the loss of a mom who died days after giving birth to twins.
Morgan Aubrey Hughes, 23, died on Dec. 28 after welcoming son Hudson Samuel and daughter Georgia Elise Hughes with her husband Samuel.
“It just doesn’t feel real,” Samuel told KSL.
Morgan’s father, Brian Hodson, said his daughter’s delivery went “extremely smooth” on Dec. 19. However, NBC News reported that she began to feel sick a few days later.
After vomiting and fainting, she went back to the hospital where she was diagnosed with postpartum cardiomyopathy, also known as peripartum cardiomyopathy.
According to John Hopkins Medicine, the rare condition can sometimes develop during the final month of pregnancy through about five months after delivery, without any other known cause.
Her condition deteriorated quickly, and on Dec 28, she died after going into cardiac arrest.
In a GoFundMe account, Morgan was remembered as “a kind and loving soul whose greatest joy was becoming a mother.”
The twins, who were born prematurely, remain in the NICU but are expected to be home later this month.
Samuel visits the newborns twice daily and says caring for them has kept him going.
“The twins are where I feel my peace that she’s there. She is helping the twins,” he said.
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