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Aspiring midwife who 'just wanted to be a mum' dies after giving birth

Chelsea Pearce, 29, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, died on November 27 after suffering a fatal blood clot following the birth of her son, Roman.
Chelsea Pearce, 29, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, died on 27 November after suffering a fatal blood clot following the birth of her son Roman. (Reach)

An aspiring midwife who “just wanted to be a mum” died hours after giving birth to her first child.

Chelsea Pearce, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, died on Friday evening after suffering a fatal blood clot, her family said.

The 29-year-old, who worked as a health visitor, had just given birth to a healthy baby boy named Roman that morning with her partner Robbie.

Chelsea’s mother Colette has paid a heartbreaking tribute to her daughter, who she said “just couldn’t wait to have him”.

Chelsea Pearce, 29, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, died on November 27 after suffering a fatal blood clot following the birth of her son, Roman.
Chelsea Pearce's baby son Roman, who was born on Friday. (Reach)

Ms Pearce said the last time she saw Chelsea was when she dropped her off at the hospital for the birth.

She said: “I can’t think of any words to say, she was still my baby. I don’t know how to word what I feel because I just feel like my heart has been ripped out.

“It was her first baby, she wanted a baby so much. She was baby-orientated.”

Ms Pearce said her daughter would hold her stomach and talk to Roman at night before he was born, adding: “She just couldn’t wait to have him.”

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Chelsea wanted to become a midwife, and had begun work as a health visitor when she decided to have a baby, her mother added.

She was due to give birth on 4 December in a planned C-section, due to an underlying health condition with her lung, but was rushed to the Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax on Thursday by her mother after her waters broke.

Chelsea was monitored overnight and gave birth the following day at 7.41am following the surgical procedure, which the family said “went well” with no complications.

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But just hours later, she was found collapsed and not breathing by a midwife after she got up to go to the toilet. The staff sat her up and she began to breathe again.

Tragically, the blood clot in her lung began to move to her heart, causing it to stop. Medics managed to revive her but it stopped once more shortly afterwards.

Chelsea was given drugs to help thin the blood clot and underwent an emergency hysterectomy but died that evening.

Rhea Proctor, girlfriend of Chelsea’s brother Nathan, said: “Chelsea always wanted to work with children and she studied really hard to become a midwife.

An aspiring midwife who 'just wanted to be a mum' died hours after giving birth, her heartbroken family have revealed.  Chelsea Pearce, 29, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, died on November 27 after suffering a fatal blood clot following the birth of her son, Roman.  Caption: The Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax, West Yorkshire
The Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax, West Yorkshire (Reach)

"Her dream was to be a mum, that’s all she ever wanted, to be a mum. Everything in her life revolved around babies, she just wanted to be a mum.

“She has four nieces and nephews, she treated every one of them as her own.”

Proctor added: “Her family feel like they’re empty and have lost a huge part of themselves.

“She was a beautiful person, she was selfless and thought of everyone else no matter what, even if she didn’t know them she did everything for them. She would’ve gone out of her own pocket for people as a health visitor.”

Proctor said she has received messages from Chelsea’s friends saying what a “lovely caring person” she was.

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Speaking about baby Roman, Proctor said: “He’s absolutely fine, Chelsea is absolutely drilled into Roman. He’s taken to his bottle – she would’ve been proud.

"Robbie is desperate to follow everything she told him to look after the little boy.”

The family have thanked everyone, including Guardian Funeral Care in Bradford, which is helping them with funeral plans for their support.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for Robbie and Roman.

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