Serena Williams says she “almost died” after giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia.
The tennis star says her daughter was born by an emergency C-section on Sept. 1 after Olympia’s heart rate plummeted during contractions.
The surgery went smoothly, Serena said on CNN.com … “But what followed just 24 hours after giving birth were six days of uncertainty.”
She suffered a pulmonary embolism, which is when a blood clot blocks one or more arteries in her lungs.
“The doctors found a large hematoma, a swelling of clotted blood, in my abdomen. And then I returned to the operating room for a procedure that prevents clots from traveling to my lungs.”
Serena eventually made it home and was ordered to spend the next 6 weeks in bed.
She credits the “incredible medical team of doctors and nurses at a hospital with state-of-the-art equipment” — and urges people to support UNICEF, which provides medical services to mothers and babies around the world.
