Pph

[Dreamer899]

Hi everyone .
Can anyone relate to having gone through a traumatic birth experience. Recently had a scary experience giving birth . Having been induced as two weeks late, then forceps and loosing 1.5litres of blood being rushed to theatre, husband seeing it all and myself just feeling so scared for my life. Really struggling to get over this ptsd . Love being a mum but the trauma just plays on my mind daily. Can anyone else relate ?

Hi, I also had an induction which ended in forceps, I lost a little bit more than you & to be honest it's an all a little bit of a blur now. (Gave birth 4 months ago). Have you been offered a birth reflection/debrief? Might be good for both you & your husband x

Hi. I lost at least 3.5 L. You'll probably never forget it but I think it's important to understand why it happened. Especially if you plan for more babies. It does get easier with time.

Mine was 4months ago , had birth de brief and am having counselling but still getting random panic attacks because of it . I think its a mixture of that feeling of being rushed to theatre and then being readmitted two days for an infection and being so poorly the first 2 weeks of baby's life which I'm struggling to remove . Plus wanting more children it's like do I want to put myself in that situation again, as midwife said I would be high risk now 🤔

Sorry you had a bad time, it's not nice when you just want to live in the baby bubble but your mind goes back there!

Make sure to remember that birth is not a competition, it doesn't matter who had it worse or who had it better, you're allowed to feel how you feel! You've got to give mind time to heal aswell as your body.

I had a similar birth a few years ago and felt traumatised by it too, I kept going over and over it, felt panicked anytime I had to go to the same hospital for anything.

It faded over time for me and was only really heightened when I decided to have a second, I was scared for birth all the way through in a way that I wasn't first time round.

My pre natal care was great and a doctor saw me early on, was aware of all the details of my first birth and talked me through how we could try and avoid the same happening again so I had a good plan in place for birth (they also mentioned a section of I wanted it but I declined). I was clear with the midwives when I went in to Labour that I wanted to go ahead with the plan and they were really good and made sure to read all the notes. It ended in an emergency c sect 🥴 but the trauma was no where near as bad as the first, I think it's a lot of shock factor with the first aswell.

In terms of high risk, you might find that it's not as much as you thought (depending on the reason for pph!) I had a follow up app with a doctor and she said the risk of it happening again is only a couple % more than it is for happening at all! Low rush pregnancy second time round too.

Please seek some help if you need it, don't suffer or let anyone tell you "you've got a healthy baby that's all that matters" because although yes that is the aim, so is having a happy mum to look after that baby ❤️

I had high risk pregnancies due to a previous pph and was absolutely fine both times. The lead midwife was able to do a debrief on what had happened, why, and how to prevent it happening again. I also did a few months therapy to deal with the flashbacks when they didn't go away after a year or so.

Don't rush into panicking, let your body heal and work out what you want to do when you're physically and mentally a bit more settled. 4 months is still very much recovery time when you've been through that.

If you want to have more children, you might want to talk about your relative risk and how it can be managed before you decide anything.

I lost a lot more than you during my last birth, so 1.5L doesn't sound so big to me, but I did have a warning during the birth before when I probably did lose around that much. I lost at least 2L more at the next birth, so it did get worse. That was a risk I decided I couldn't take again. However, I did talk to a couple of people (a doctor and a midwife) who both told me it wasn't a reason not to have another one. With a closely managed third stage, my risk might not have been higher than anyone else. (I didn't have a managed third stage for the two where I had PPHs).

You need proper advice from a professional about what can be done if you decide to have further babies, for you.

The only thing I can reassure you about is it does get easier with time. It's good you are having counselling to deal with it. My midwife did advise that if I didn't deal with it then, I'd have to deal with it when my daughters birthed themselves.

Thanks so much everyone. For me it isn't the amount of blood I lost its the trauma that I remember which is playing on my mind. Weather I lost 1litre or 3 it's just the whole experience has really frightened me and the whole recovery from it. The midwife said some people can loose more blood and be fine but for others you don't have to loose alot and it can really mess you up, still very dizzy and anemic because of it plus exhausted from a newborn haha.
I think we put alot of pr3ssyre on ourselves to bounce back but in reality it hasn't happened so quickly for me .

Poor you!

I had a very similar experience. I was 12 days past my due date, induced, had an epidural, vacuum assisted delivery and PPH due to uterine atony.

Recovery was tough as I was also very anemic and felt horrible.

I also had flashbacks and felt anxious a lot. What helped me was therapy with a therapist who specialized in postpartum - I did EDMR therapy, which is recommend for PTSD. I only needed 3 sessions and flashbacks were gone. I continued to see the therapist for a few more months to talk.

I am now 18 months post birth and feel great.

I spoke to my obgyn and they said that in my case, PPH was caused by too many interventions, but it doesn't mean it will happen again.

I'd recommend finding a therapist who specialize in PTSD. It can be really helpful, especially if you have flashbacks.

I hope you'll feel much better soon.

Thankyou so much for your kind words . You sound like what exactly happend to me !
Induced, quick labour, then x2 vacuum then forceps then rushed off to theatre without seeing my baby etc all a bit much for your brain to handle !
I was allowed home that night then had to be rushed back in to hospital with sepsis and then had a iron infusion and on blood clot injections which I've just finished a month ago. I think its all been a bit much, with a newborn and feeling so weak. I just don't find the counselling is helping as you mentioned i may need a specialist in that field who getts it more .
So glad your out of the other side , I know I will be too . Just a low place to be until I'm stronger !