Mother Dies Shortly After Giving Birth to Triplets, Community Rallies to Help

— -- A Kansas community is rallying to help a family after a mother of five died less than two weeks after giving birth to triplets.

Casi Rott, 36, died last month after returning home from the hospital, according to her husband Joey Rott. She had previously been hospitalized for a blood clot, but had been discharged before she returned home to Clay Center, Kansas, in February to see her older children.

The mother of five had been in Wichita, Kansas, with her brother-in-law's family for months as she waited to give birth to her triplets. Rott said his wife didn't have any complications until after the triplets were delivered by cesarean section at 34 weeks.

"Our main thing here was to hold them in as long as she could," Rott told ABC News today. "We were apart for a while. She was doing great. ... She made it 34 weeks."

Casi Rott, a secretary at a local elementary school, gave birth to her three youngest children on Jan. 29, her husband said. Initially, she didn't show any signs of complications, but a few days after returning to her brother-in-law's home, she started to feel severe chest pains and was rushed back to the hospital.

The doctors diagnosed her with a pulmonary embolism -- blood clot that had traveled to her lungs, Rott said, noting that doctors "did tons of tests and scans and put her on all the medications that she needed to be on."

Casi Rott had been on bed rest for two weeks before she delivered through cesarean section, both of which can increase the risk of developing a blood clot, according to the Mayo Clinic.

On Feb. 8, less than two weeks after she gave birth to her triplets, Casi Rott finally got to return home from Wichita.

"It was first time in three months she was back. She said several times it was like she never left home," Rott said. "She was just dying to see them."

However, Casi was able spend just five minutes with her daughters before the chest pains came back, her husband said. Rott immediately took his wife to the hospital, but she died within hours of developing chest pains.

"It was a good few minutes," Rott said of the brief time Casi was at the house again.

He said he and the doctors believe Casi had a second blood clot that led to her death. The 33-year-old father said he is now focusing on his children and relying on help from the community.

"The community has been incredible," Rott said. "It’s one big reason we moved back here."

Family friend Hilary Thompson set up a GoFundMe page that has already raised more than $84,000 for the family.

"I have 16-month-old triplets," Thompson said. "She was very excited to tell us before they announced it to everybody else that they were having triplets."

She said Casi's death has been incredibly painful in such a tight-knit community.

"They’re a very precious family and it’s a very tough deal," Thompson told ABC News.