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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Anyone with medical knowledge please can you help?

31 replies

Trauma · 19/07/2007 23:29

Hi, hopefully someone can help, I am having difficulty coming to terms with a difficult birth.

lost roughly 8 pts blood, hb count of 4,5 and had to have loads of blood & clotting agent transfusions. Spend hours in surgery after delivery

How serious could this have been? could it have been a life or death situation? when I asked my doc she just told me to forget about it and concentrate on my gorgeous baby (baby is gorgeous btw!)

I do need to know for my own peace of mind though as I don't feel I can move on until I know.

thanks in advance!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

oops · 19/07/2007 23:32

Message withdrawn

maisym · 19/07/2007 23:35

sounds a very serious situation - have you been able to talk to anyone at the hospital about what happened?

pastalady · 19/07/2007 23:45

The hospital will have your notes and should arrange for you to go and talk through them with someone medicial if you request it. I felt traumatised by my DS's birth and was advised to do that but never did as I gradually came to terms with it myself. Some women find it helpful to get a better understanding though. Good luck.

edam · 19/07/2007 23:56

Congratulations on the gorgeous baby!

That does sound very serious. Pastalady's right, contact the hospital to go through your notes.

PuppyDogsTails · 20/07/2007 00:20

Don't want to scare you but I get the impression that you want to take this more seriously than the doctor smoothing over and telling you to forget it.
The human body has about 10 pints of blood in it so losing 8 is very serious, and from what you say it probably was life or death. They dont give you blood transfusions and major surgery unless it is, frankly.
I was in a major car crash a few years ago and kept getting told how lucky I was (to be alive) but I didnt feel at all lucky and I needed to know how amazing it was that I didnt die, and how nearly I did.
If you cant come to terms with it or have flashbacks I would ask about counselling, Post traumatic stress does happen after births and your story sounds pretty horrendous.
Best of luck with everything and all the other advice posted is very sensible.

PotterCandles · 20/07/2007 05:46

What the doctor said to you is seriously misleading and unfair. A lot of people - mums included - have the perspective that the labour was irrelevant and you shouldn't dwell on it but be thankful for the lovely baby and dwell on that instead. But life's not like that. If your labour was traumatising, well it's your trauma and it doesn't help to have it dismissed just because someone else doesn't consider it a big deal.

I was very upset about certain aspects of my labour with ds1, but felt I might as well just get over it as I had a fantastic baby as a result. And when I got pg with dd I thought that I had got over it. But when I was getting ready for labour I realised that I had a lot of anger over the previous labour, and this was causing me problems and fear regarding the next labour.

I had a 'debrief' with a specialist midwife and it made a huge difference to me. I was able to express my anger and frustration at what had happened, and she effectively gave me permission to refuse things that I was worried about being pushed into. I went forward to my next labour in a completely different frame of mind, and had a far better labour as a result.

And the memory of the 'good' labour wiped away the memory of the 'bad' labour.

Mintpurple · 20/07/2007 08:39

Congrats on your new baby, trauma.

What type of birth was it, Im guessing it was instrumental? Of course to lose 8 pints of blood is very serious, although it depends whether it was slow, as in during the surgery, when your body has time to compensate to some extent, or suddenly in a huge gush, when you can go into shock. It sounds like the hospital did the right thing with the transfusions, and in a big unit this happens reasonably regularly, for one reason or another, so they are quite used to dealing with this.

It usually is more terrifying for your partner, as you are in the centre of the action and dont usually realise what is going on, but your dp is standing to one side watching the very messy scenario.

Your Doc was wrong in saying to forget about it, as you need to talk about it and have some debriefing and counselling to work through it, as you may well be suffering from post traumatic stress. If she wont refer you, I suggest going back to the hospital via the PALS service, or even phoning your consultants secretary and asking for an appointment to discuss the case.

Women do still die of blood loss during childbirth, but it is very very rare in the UK thank goodness.

Original poster

Trauma · 20/07/2007 10:31

Hi thanks everyone, I don't like to talk about it in rl I'm not sure if I am building it up to be something bigger than it was and don't want to be thought of as a drama queen!

At the time hospital was great but I was so relieved that baby and I were ok that I didn't question it too much.

I remember lying in theatre thinking I was going to die & wouldn't see my baby again(I had an instrumental delivery and had massive blood loss afterwards)

I was conscious while they tried to patch me up so could hear what was going on around me (which was the scary part).

I try not to dwell on it and thankfully haven't had any scary flashbacks or anything like that but it is still something that I am having trouble putting behind me.

It is good to let it out here thanks for listening (am having a good cry while I type this!)

OP posts:

JayJ · 20/07/2007 11:44

Hi, I can really relate to your experience. My DS was born 22 months ago, he was delivered by forceps, for some reason I was bleeding throughout the labour but nothing too serious, anyway the moment he was delivered I lost 6 pints of blood within minutes. Needed transfusions etc.

I really thought that I would never be able to get past what happened as I kept dwelling on it. I was in hospital for a week afterwards and spoke to the consultant about what happened. I also contacted the birth trauma association, I recommend that you do this as they were very helpful to me.

22 months later and I am 29 weeks pregnant, just goes to show that time is a great healer. I imagine you have loads of unanswered questions about your experience, it is a very important part of the healing process that you get these answered. What happened to you was very serious, give yourself as much time as you need to heal both physically and especially emotionally.

Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful baby!

lulumama · 20/07/2007 12:54

please get in touch with one of the birth trauma helplines

birth trauma association

sheila kitzingers birth crisis

the fact is ,it was serious, you can;t just forget about it, you need to be debriefed, come through it ,and then move on...also, if you are planning to have more children, any previous birth trauma should be dealt with before going through another labour

i do so detest the dismissal of womens deep seated emotional reactions to birth trauma..if it was acknowledged and dealt with properly by more health care professionals, then women would come through these situations far better

morningglory · 20/07/2007 17:31

It was irresponsible for your doctor to tell you to forget about it. Definitely get your hospital notes. Can't really advise you, as you would have to get a full history done to get any sense of what is going on.

Did you have a c-section or vaginal? If vaginally, was it a traumatic birth and did they have difficulty getting the placenta out? Have you had surgery in the past? Any conplications? Do you have heavy periods, bleed for a prolonged period of time, bruise easily?

RubyRioja · 20/07/2007 17:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CountessDracula · 26/07/2007 18:03

oh trauma I've only just seen this, sorry
Yes I had similar

will try and find the thread with the story on it..

I think you should go back and see the hospital and talk through it. that's what we did.

CountessDracula · 26/07/2007 18:05

here it is
feel free to ask my any qs xx

eleusis · 26/07/2007 18:11

oi fangy one. what's the bright idea of summoning me over to a thread and then buggering off????

CountessDracula · 26/07/2007 18:12

i am on said thread too!!!

eleusis · 26/07/2007 18:16

OMG, I just read your birth story. and

CountessDracula · 26/07/2007 18:16

now you know where I get my name!!!

MaloryTheExciterTowers · 26/07/2007 18:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CountessDracula · 26/07/2007 18:19

so have I
have just re-read it

argh
still we are all fine and that is what matters.

MaloryTheExciterTowers · 26/07/2007 18:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CountessDracula · 26/07/2007 18:20

no I didn't have one
no more kids though (not through lack of trying!)

MaloryTheExciterTowers · 26/07/2007 18:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

eleusis · 26/07/2007 18:28

I did know it came from blood loss in your DD birth, but I didn't know quite how horrific.

The part about when your DH thought you were dead really jerked the tears.

Okay, must go home now. ope no one spots me crying on the way out.

Will sign on later.

ta ta

CountessDracula · 26/07/2007 18:30

i know that's what made me snivel too

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