A Sydney mum says an Apple Watch alert saved her life after she developed a serious infection following the birth of her first child.
Earlier this year, a thrilled Peta Ryan welcomed her daughter, Bella, into the world.
Although she’d always wanted children, the 45-year-old had accepted that she might not have any, making the surprise pregnancy extra special.
Having undergone previous operations that would put her at risk during a natural birth, Ms Ryan opted to have an elective caesarean on January 6.
While the surgery wasn’t particularly eventful, the days that followed quickly turned into “absolute hell”.
On January 10 – the day she was discharged from hospital – the mum complained about still being in a lot of pain, but was assured that such symptoms were “normal”.
“I didn’t know what was normal because I’ve never had [a child] before,” she told news.com.au.
“So I went home that day, and then halfway through the night, I woke up with a horrible fever.”
Fearing it was “all in [her] head”, Ms Ryan called the hospital for help, and a midwife was sent to her home the following morning. She calmed concerns that the mum had developed mastitis, and checked to make sure Bella was doing ok before heading on her way.
Apple Watch alerts mum of infection
However, the 45-year-old’s condition soon deteriorated.
“I went to bed, and I got a notification on my Apple Watch saying, ‘Your heart rate has been between 120bpm and 130bpm for the last 10 minutes’,” she said.
In the 10 years she’d been wearing the watch, she’d never had a notification like that.
“I do Barry’s [Bootcamp] and my heart rate gets up to like 190bmp no issues. So I thought that’s really odd,” Ms Ryan, who also competed on Australian Ninja Warrior, said.
After notifying the hospital, staff said she better come in for an evaluation.
“Had it not been for that alert, I would not have gone,” Ms Ryan said. “I didn’t know what it was meant to be feeling, and I don’t like to make a big deal about things, and I most likely would have left it for another few days, and I could have been dead by then.”
Mum undergoes surgery, IV antibiotics
It was soon revealed that the mum had a severe life-threatening infection and a 13cm haematoma in her abdominal wall, which required surgery.
She also had a fluid collection near her caesarean incision that contained gas.
The 45-year-old spent the next nine days on IV antibiotics.
“It was one of the hardest experiences of my life, really,” Ms Ryan said.
“The day I went back into hospital…Bella was so young that she was just sleeping on me like a koala while I was having all these blood tests done and drips put in. And so she was like this beautiful comfort in this scary situation.”
She has since recovered and is now enjoying motherhood with her almost 10-month-old daughter, and she believes she owes it all to the device on her wrist.
“I have pushed past my maximum heart rate so many times, and it’s never given me an alert, never,” Ms Ryan said.
New Apple Watch features advanced health sensors
Apple launched high heart rate notifications in 2017. The technology lets wearers choose to receive a notification when their heart rate is elevated above a specific threshold while inactive, or when their heart rate is notably low.
Last month, the company unveiled its Apple Watch Series 12, which features advanced health sensors to deliver the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable, Apple states online.
“With larger, power-efficient green LEDs on the optical heart sensor, Apple Watch Series 12 now measures heart rate every five seconds, all day long,” the company said in a press release.
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