After a pregnancy filled with complications that led to a bout with sepsis following a C-section delivery in late November, Forty Fort native Alyssa Meighan felt like she was going to die.
She wrote goodbye notes to her newborn twins, Mason and Myles, on her phone from her emergency room bed.
“That’s when my whole body was shutting down,” Meighan recalled.
Her C-section wound was infected. She suffered from a severe fever. Fluid filled her lungs, causing her to cough up blood. Doctors determined her heart grew to nearly twice the size of a normal one.
After several scary days, Meighan begged to be released.
“I was home just before Thanksgiving because I was crying to be home with my family. It was probably a bad idea, but they knew how bad I wanted to be home,” Meighan said. “I’m still recovering, but I’m happy I was home for the holidays to be there with my family and I’m thankful to be alive.”
She credited her husband Zach, a West Wyoming native, with compassionately caring for her and the twins during the ordeal.
Zach and Alyssa Meighan hold their twin sons Myles and Mason at the Market Place at Steamtown in Scranton Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Zach and Alyssa Meighan hold their twin sons Myles and Mason at the Market Place at Steamtown in Scranton Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Zach and Alyssa Meighan hold their twin sons Myles and Mason at the Market Place at Steamtown in Scranton Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Zach and Alyssa Meighan hold their twin sons Myles and Mason at the Market Place at Steamtown in Scranton Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
As she continues to recover at her home in Vandling, Lackawanna County, Meighan hopes to become a “pregnancy awareness” advocate. She wants to educate and influence other expectant mothers, medical professionals and lawmakers.
Meighan has long battled an autoimmune disease, so she was already a frequent visitor to doctors prior to learning she was pregnant in March.
Soon after, she was told she was having twins, so the pregnancy would be even more high risk.
Meighan said she suffered from pregnancy hypertension, which is similar to preeclampsia, a serious complication that often leads to high blood pressure, organ damage and protein build up in the urine, impacting the kidneys, liver, brain, and vision.
Pregnancy hypertension doesn’t directly cause sepsis, but it creates conditions that significantly increase the risk for both the mother and the newborn to develop sepsis due to inflammation, compromised immune responses, and potential organ dysfunction.
“The whole pregnancy was kind of rough. It took a toll on me and my overall health,” Meighan said.
Meighan said mandatory testing of the heart and lungs should be part of evaluating pregnant women, especially those with autoimmune diseases. While she had non-stop doctor appointments leading up to her C-section, she said she didn’t realize the internal issues she had until after giving birth.
“If I wasn’t in the ER I wouldn’t have known my heart grew twice the size it should be,” Meighan said.
Meighan said constant doctor appointments led to “traveling stress,” especially when when appointments often lasted around 10 minutes without medical professionals understanding how she was feeling. She thinks video consultations should be streamlined.
Another thing she would like to see is a pregnancy protection act like other states have, which gives new mothers and fathers more time off after child birth.
“I’d really like to bring awareness. So many pregnant women are shut out, struggling, and have had near-death experiences similar to mine and have been dismissed,” Meighan said.