postpartum hemorrage.

[nightshade]

has anyone hemorraged following delivery and if so, what was your experience during following deliveries?

I haemoraged after my first delivery, lost 4 pints of blood. Second delivery was very easy and apart from tearing badly had no problems whatsoever.

did the hospital take any extra precautions orr were you able to labour unhindered?

I did and also lost 4 pints of blood. I had retained placenta so had to have a GA to remove it and then had a transfusion.

Next delivery I had a C Section .

I think it would depend very much on why you had a PPH tbh. Do you know why it happened last time?

not really. was told i had bled quite a bit, at the time.

have just been to my midwife for my second pregnancy and when she looked at my notes, she stated that i had hemorraged.

although it obviously wasn't very extreme, have felt a bit thrown and teary about it all, given that i thought i had a relatively normal delivery.

I haemoraged very badly after my first delivery, needing 2 blood transfusions. I also haemoraged badly after my second too although not quite as bad.

Sorry, sure you did not want to hear that! But, hospital care was great and I was well looked after both times!

Anything over 500ml is a PPH so there is a wide variation, also how good or ill women feel afterwards. A PPH can be caused by tone - how well your uterus contracts after labour, trauma - any tears etc from delivery, thrombin -clotting problems with the blood or tissue - any retained products in the uterus preventing it from contracting after delivery of the placenta.
Apart from the blood clotting problems, the others can happen to anyone and are to a large extent unpredictable (although over use of oxytocin may lead to problems with the tone of the uterus). Fetal monitoring would not be an issue as by definition it has happened following delivery, but I think they would suggest siting a cannula (venous access in your hand or arm) in case it happens again and they need quick access to veins. They would probably also suggest active management of the 3rd stage (that is an injection of oxytocic drug to help deliver the placenta) but both of these would of course be your choice.

Had a generally awful first labour and the haemorage was just the icing on the cake. Was offered csection with second pregnancy but refused it as dd would only have been 17 months and I wouldn't have been able to cope with not lifting for 6 weeks. Labour was induced, not early but on time as dd was a large baby (this wasn't the main cause of the haemorrage)and the midwives were very aware of my last labour and certainly kept a much, much closer eye on me. I really wouldn't worry if you felt that you had a normal birth then I would stick with that feeling. I'm taking it that you didnt have a transfusion as you didn't realise you heamorraged so I wouldn't imagine that your blood loss would have been too significant.

thanks reikizen.