Scots mum-to-be given iron tablets for tiredness was suffering rare pregnancy heart failure

p A mum-to-be was told to take iron tablets for tiredness that later turned out to be a deadly a data-content-type=section-topic data-link-tracking=InArticle|Link href=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/all-about/heart-diseaseheart condition/a. /p p Heather McFerren said if her partner David Nicol, 31, hadn#x2019;t demanded staff at Crosshouse Hospital, a data-content-type=section-topic data-link-tracking=InArticle|Link href=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/all-about/kilmarnock-newsKilmarnock/a, check her out on June 10 she could have died. /p pAnd it ended with her baby being born six weeks early on June 17./p img src=https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article23094556.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/20200618_085508JPG.jpg title=Heather in hospital while she was ill data-portal-copyright=Daily Record/ p/ p/ pHeather, 32, of Stewarton, Ayrshire, said: #x201C;I kept telling the midwife I could hardly walk a couple of steps without struggling to breathe./p p#x201C;I was told I was feeling like that because I was pregnant./p p#x201C;I was given iron tablets but when things started to get worse, my partner took me to hospital and insisted they find out what was wrong./p p#x201C;After a scan, I was diagnosed with pregnancy-induced heart failure, peripartum cardiomyopathy. My partner basically saved my life.#x201D;/p pThe condition, which affects just eight women in Scotland a year, can kill quickly if not diagnosed./p p/ pA week later, doctors decided to perform a C-section and Piper was born #x2013; a sister for Jordan McGrory, 17, and 20-month-old Aleena./p pHeather said: #x201C;She was tiny but OK. I was taken to the cardiac unit after Piper was born and was only able to see her twice in 10 days./p p#x201C;It was so traumatic not knowing if I#x2019;d need a pacemaker, a heart transplant or if I was going to die.#x201D;/p pHeather, who#x2019;ll be on medication for the rest of her life and need a heart scan every six months, is aiming to raise awareness of the disease and urging other pregnant women suffering from the same symptoms to be on their guard./p