PPH - what are people's experiences?

[rubles]

After reading some other posts on mumsnet recently I have been thinking about how bad a pph can be.
I have only had 'experience' of one - when present at my sister's birth and she had a retained placenta and I think she lost 1.5-2L. I remember it being quite calm and taking a while during which they discussed the situation and decided to transfer to hospital (she was at home). Then an ambulance came and she was taken on a stretcher to hospital (not blue lighted though).

What have been other people's experience? Are there different degrees of urgency according to how fast the bleeding is taking place?

I had one during my first delivery. I can't really remember what happened but it was suggested I should have a transfusion which I declined, at least until a test had been done to establish my hb level. As it was 12 the next day it was confirmed as not necessary, but I am quite fortunate in that I always have a high hb (about 16 usually).

Mine was pretty bad (hence my mn name!) 12 litres of blood + clotting agent, lots of shouting and panic and blood EVERYWHERE, 2 hrs trying to stop it with epidural in, then 9 hours general anaesthetic, woke up in intensive care on a ventilator.

sorry to be dense...what's a PPH?

what is PPH?

post partum haemorrhage

CD - that sounds dreadful Mine was very minor in comparison - I guess that shows how much it can differ according to how much you lose.

thank you.
My notes say that I lost 400ml blood - during a C-section.
Did Princesspeahead have one too?

a PPH I meant.

I apparently had one, lost 600 ml blood after delivery. According to the midwife, a PPH is when you lose in excess of 500 ml. So mine was v. minor. Only knew about it when they insisted I be pushed in a wheelchair to the postnatal ward.

How do you think they measure it? I didn't notice anyone standing around with a bucket and measuring jug

i had one after my second baby, lost about a litre of blood i think. it didn't feel like an emergency - the midwife just noticed i was bleeding quite a lot when she was stitching me up. dr came & sorted things out (my uterus wasn't contracting down properly), which wasn't much fun as he kept punching me in the stomach. i didn't need a transfusion, just lots of fluids & iron tablets for a couple of weeks. my milk took 5 days to come in which may have been related to the pph.

Gosh Countess Dracula, you must have been wiped out for ages after that. I don't suppose they have any idea why it was so particularly bad with you, do they?

p.s. Sorry everyone for not putting the full wording in the title - but I knew I would spell it wrong

Well they tried to induce me for a week first, and like Hox my uterus wouldn't contract because it was all floppy so I guess they could have worn it out with all the induction.

They finally stitched in in with something called a bib and braces stitch and crossed their fingers. I had to give consent for a hysterectomy before they gave me the GA, the surgeon said they were knives poised to do that when it suddenly stopped. Phew

Had PPH with first baby after long induction and failed ventouse and forceps. Can't remember how much blood I lost but it gushed out all over the doctors almost immediately after dd was born and then I blacked out. Had to have 3 units of blood afterwards.

Next birth with ds1 was straightforward and I had minimal blood loss.

With ds2 after he was delivered I had PPH again but this time it was gradual over a few hours. It was just handled by the midwives who gave me something in a drip to stop the bleeding. Didn't need a transfusion this time just on iron tablets for a while.

i was induced too cd

omg I had those elephant legs too, they just went straight down from the knee. In fact I puffed up all over!

I had nary a swollen ankle while pg so was HORRIFIED to wake to these repulsive things

Hox were you? Would be interesting to do a survey to see how much inductions bring on pphs

but then again was induced with ds too, & he was a hideous instrumental delivery & i was ok after him.

my mum had a pph after having me. but didn't tell me until after i'd had my first baby as she didn't want to scare me!

I had one after DS1 was born by crash section under GA.(Yeah,the whole birth was a laugh a minute)
Lost 2+ litres and had a 4 unit transfusion.
Because it was baby no 1,I thought it was normal to be breathless and blacking out.The worst I can remember is thinking that I was probably dying but I didn't much mind,it seemed very relaxing and peaceful.Terror didn't get me til much later.

I never had anything like this. I have had two secondary pphs, which means that you have a haemorrage usually 10 days after giving birth, and as a result of having retained products in the placenta (which become infected in that time, and cause a bleed).
both times treated just with heavy duty antibiotics.

I had a home birth last year and opted for a physiological 3rd stage. After 45 mins the placenta still hadn't made an appearance and I was in a lot of pain so asked for the syntocinon (?) injection. When the placenta emerged it was obvious that the pain had been caused by blood building up behind it - approx. 1.5litres iirc.

I was taken by ambulance to hospital (all quite relaxed really - no-one seemed to be panicking) and monitored overnight - all fine, and I went home in the morning with a bag full of iron tablets!

Elective c-section with DD1, PPH of 4000ml horrendous experience when they took those bloody moonboot things (that you have with an epidural) and blood splashed all over the floor. Was all quite calm to be fair, lots of prodding and poling in the HDU then back into theatre under a GA where I flat lined apparently. Same as CD, I was consented for a hysterctomy. Transfused 8 units over the next day or so, upto the post-natal ward on day 3 and felt great TBH. Caused by utrine atrophy or flabby uterus which I can only presume was because DD was big (9lb 9oz) and I am small (by which I mean short as opposed to slim). My claim to fame was that I had both vaginal stitches and c-section stitches as they attempted to stop the bleeding from externally first - dread to think what they were doing!!!!

DD2 - nobody that interested in PPH after DD1. Attempted VBAC, did not happen so onto an emergency section. This time I wasn't out of theatre when sh*t hit the fan, big panic all around. Was like Casualty with all the sats have dropped to blah, blah, machines beeping etc. I was begging to be put under but was awake but obviously do-lally as I was aware of singing Yellow Submarine at one point. DH and DD2 were removed from theatre. Smaller loss of around 3000ml and again transfused over next day or so with I think 6 units this time. And again I felt great and had a good quick recovery. DD2 was fairly hefty too (10lb 10oz)

Now expecting with number 3 and not surprisingly there is slightly more interest this time around.... Although to be fair I am not sure what can be done in advance!

Blimey, CD! What a horrible time you had.