Elizabeth Simms was 27 years old and about 31 weeks pregnant when she suddenly noticed the first signs of what turned out to be a life-threatening medical emergency.

She had woken up one morning in May of 2022 to change her daughter when she felt a "bear hug around me," Simms, now 30 and a stay-at-home mom of four in Greenville, Kentucky, tells TODAY.com.

"It was so tight and my heart was pounding," she recalls. "I started shaking."

Then a mom of three, Simms knew this wasn't a normal pregnancy symptom . But she describes having "two sides" arguing inside of her at that moment.

On one hand, "I thought I was dying," she says. But at the same time, Simms also felt like she might be just having a panic attack and tried to calm herself down.

"I wasn't going to (call the doctor) becaus

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