Anyone with medical knowledge please can you help?

[Trauma]

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!

now you see why I am on the people who drink too much thread

Trauma so sorry that your thread has been hijacked

Hi Trama

I had a traumatic birth experience as well. I suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and PND, which could have been related to the feelings I had about the birth.

The two biggest lies I was told were 'well, you've got a healthy baby, what are you worried about?' and 'don't worry, you'll forget the pain.' The answers being a/my state of mind and b/no I won't, and I haven't, 18 months on.

I have done group therapy and also went to see a midwife to talk about the experience. I could only bring myself to do this a few months ago and wished I'd done it sooner. She arranged for me to spend a whole hour with her just talking, and answered all my questions. I spend pretty much the whole time crying and just letting out a lot of misery. It felt pretty good and I am well on the way now to properly putting it behind me - not just being able to put it out of my mind but being able to remember it and accept it and move on.

If you want to talk to a midwife or doctor, get in touch with your hospital's patient services department. As Lulumama says, the BTA are also great.

I hope very much that you get your answers and I'm glad you're enjoying your beautiful baby. I had major bonding issues as well so I envy you that!

Trauma,

In answer to your question - I looked after a postnatal lady once who kept bleeding after her section. Blood loss was per vagina, not from the wound. We went back to theatre with her and put her under a general while the medics tried to stop the bleeding. In total she lost 13 units of blood, as fast as we were squeezing the blood in it was coming out. She ended up needing a hysterectomy as they couldn't stop the bleeding. Once her uterus was removed the bleeding stopped, but in theatre her BP was very low and we were concerned she wasn't going to make it. She ended up in ICU for a few days but went home a couple of weeks later. So yes it could have been a life or death situation. Saying that you were obviously in the right place been looked after by skilled people and they obviously got the bleeding stopped before it got as serious as with the lady I knew.

But I can totally understand why you're traumatised by it, its a shame that nobody there in theatre could talk to you about what was happening. Unfortunately in these situations everyone is normally busy doing vital, lifesaving stuff and comforting the patient comes bottom of the list of things to do. It might have been betetr if they had put you under a GA??? You should talk to people close to you about it as it will help you work through it, IF you feel you need or want to talk. And yes a good counsellor or birth trauma support group would be good.

Best wishes.

If you're in the UK, your hospital will have a PALS unit (Patient Advice and Liaison Servive). They will get your notes and arrange a specialist to talk them through with you. I can't recommmend this too highly. After my own horrible birth experience, I contacted PALS who arranged a session with a senior midwife, who explained everything in my notes. I then had another session with the senior consultant obstetrician who delivered DS, who went through it all again from his point of view. This took two hours - think of a consultant's hourly rates and what that must have cost the NHS! The whole process was incredibly healing and has allowed me to remember the good things about the birth and not to obsess about what went wrong. Good luck.