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Childbirth

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

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Original poster

Is 1000ml a lot to lose in a post-partum haemorrhage?

54 replies

artichokes · 02/11/2007 19:27

I ask because that is how much I lost. I thought it was alot and I needed transfusions but today my GP said it was not a big haemorrhage. Have I been overplaying how bad it was?

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Pruners · 02/11/2007 19:29

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Lulumamaintheskywithfireworks · 02/11/2007 19:32

if you felt bad, and you found it stressful and traumatic, then it does not actually matter if GP says it was not a big heaorrhage

as pruners says 500 ml + is classed as PPH, and 1000 ml is not catastrophic, but it is a fair amount of blood to lose and if you needed a transfusion then you are ok to feel it was bad

IdrisTheDragon · 02/11/2007 19:33

Mine was 1500ml - I have no real idea how much it was (seeing as I was at the other end) but DH said there was quite a lot of blood (he said there were buckets around the place, but I have never quit been sure if he was telling the truth ).

I think anything over 500ml is quite a lot though. How long ago di dyou have your baby? What are your iron levels like? The whole thing left me worn out for quite a while

Pruners · 02/11/2007 19:34

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Original poster

artichokes · 02/11/2007 19:39

Sorry I should have said this was not recent. DD is 14 months. I was talking to the GP about TTC again after pre-eclampsia, a bad labour and the haemorrhage. It seemed to bore him that I thought it worth checking the risk of that all happening again .

DH was really scared by the haemorrhage. I think he was more effected that me. by that point I hardly knew what was happening. He compares it the the Battle of the Somme and says there was blood everywhere including the ceiling .

OP posts:

leo1978 · 02/11/2007 19:40

Hi there

Mine was 1500ml - my husband said the room looked horrific. I am going to meet with my consultant and go over my notes because I don't really have a clue what happened. Is it common? Did I lose a lot? Why did it happen? Will it happen again? I have no idea.
My HV told me that if you have a third degree tear as well (which I did - the drama of it all) then it bleeds lots as it cuts through a vessel. However she is quite mad so this may or may not be the case.

xxx

CountessDracula · 02/11/2007 19:45

I had 12 litres of blood + several of clotting agent apparently

CountessDracula · 02/11/2007 19:45

(hence my mn name!)

Lulumamaintheskywithfireworks · 02/11/2007 19:46

PPH can be scary, it can be like a tap being switched on ...

a tired uterus , long labour, one that has been augmented , a large baby and large placenta can all contribute to PPH

and having had one, it does not necc mean that you will have another one

certainly worth ascertaining what happened, by going through your notes with a midwife

Mintpurple · 02/11/2007 20:00

1000mls is a reasonable PPH but not uncommon and should not be enough to need transfusion if your starting heamoglobin (iron levels) was OK. It would drop your hb by about 2 points, so if you started out with a hb of 11, it would go down to 9 - enough to make you feel a bit weak. We dont tend to transfuse unless the hb goes under about 7, as transfusions have their own risks.

As for next time, they would suggest you have an active 3rd stage, eg, syntometrine and a couple of hours of high dose syntocinon infusion via a drip afterwards as a prophylaxis.

As Lulu says, lots of factors contribute to PPH, so no real reason to expect it will happen again.

Leo1978 - yes your HV is mad, a 3rd degree tear will not bleed any more than a 2nd degree

Original poster

artichokes · 02/11/2007 20:16

Thanks MintPurple - its odd what you say about Hb as mine was 6 something before the transfusions. I passed out twice. Maybe they calculated my blood loss wrong. How do they guess how much was lost when it is spread all over the room?

OP posts:

suwoo · 02/11/2007 20:40

I had PPH but not sure of total loss, had to have transfusion and removal of placenta under GA. I also had 2/3rd degree tear and apparently the largest placenta the midwifes had ever seen they touted it about for all the other staff to see!! I opted for elective section 2nd time round

sugarfree · 02/11/2007 20:46

I lost 1500 mls after DS1 was born by crash section.
Ended up with an Hb of 6.8 and had two units of blood.My,did I feel rough there for a couple of days.

Mintpurple · 02/11/2007 20:50

Artichokes - Blood loss is usually underestimated and if you ended up as a hb of 6, I bet you lost a lot more than 1litre. Its just a rough rule of thumb that hb drops 1 point for each 500mls.
Obviously if you are 50 kg, you have a fairly small circulating blood volume compared to if you weigh 150 kg, so your hb may drop more than 1 point per 500mls, and so you are going to have a lower final hb and feel a lot worse. You might also have started off a bit more anaemic than you expected before delivery.

Estimates are exactly that, and when blood is all over the bed / floor etc, its very difficult to be accurate and its really just a good guess as it cant be measured.

electra · 02/11/2007 20:52

I also lost 1000ml after dd1. At the time a transfusion was recommended but I said no. I was told that you are more likely to really need one if your HB count is lower than average to begin with. But I have a higher than average HB count so I didn't need a transfusion.

electra · 02/11/2007 20:53

My HB was 12 the day after. I think they worry if it goes under 9.

IdrisTheDragon · 02/11/2007 21:21

My PPH was with DS (1st pregnancy) - I had pre-eclampsia as well (although not very severely) and I was concerned it would happen again with my second pregnancy.

In the end, with DD, I lost about 400ml of blood but that for me was quite small .

I remember discussing the PPH at appts during my pregnancy with DD and being told "oh it probably won't happen again" which wasn't really very helpful .

smileyhappymummy · 04/11/2007 10:58

I think if it's enough to make you feel bad and to need transfusing then it's enough to want to know whether or not it's likely to happen again!
I lost 7 litres and had 9 units of blood and 9 units of other blood products - all during emergency section. Really, really scary, remember thinking "I really might die in here" at one point.
Good luck with no 2!

busybusymummy · 07/11/2007 23:54

I lost about 1000ml, I was given drips to make uterous contract more quickly to stop me losing anymore... then iron tablets to get me back to feeling less grey.

I felt rubbish after the whole experience and was on iron for 6 weeks to get my iron levels back to normal.

sparklygothkat · 08/11/2007 00:05

I lost 500ml, but it was put as an APH, is it the same thing?

skidaddle · 08/11/2007 17:45

7 litres smileymummy gosh that must have been scary

I lost 700ml and my hb was 7 so they gave me a transfusion (2 units) - it was amazing the difference it made. Someone came to visit me and took photos as I was having the second transfusion and the difference in the colour of my face from the beginning to the end of the transfusion is incredible - from death warmed up to vaguely glowing!

Lulumama · 09/11/2007 13:42

SKC.. APH means antepartum heammorhage, so that is before birth, did you have a bleed before you delivered?

ConnorTraceptive · 09/11/2007 15:30

My bleed was APH too, does that mean that there is a different cause to a pph?

FioFio · 09/11/2007 15:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

sparklygothkat · 09/11/2007 15:33

Yes I bled loads during the labour, I kept thinking it was my waters going

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