Not sure where to post my post birth query?

[lola0109]

Hi,

Just wanted to ask if anyone had the same birth experience as me and just to see how they coped and when they felt "normal" again etc...let me know if there is a better place to post this?

So a basic run down on my birth on Saturday, 40+6 weeks and contractions started at 2am, went to hospital at 2pm when they were 3 in 10 mins and lasting a minute, was 3cm dilated so admitted and had gas and air, no waters at this point. Took about another 4 hours to reach 5cm and they decided to rupture membranes. then took 2 hours 20mins to get fully dilated. second stage labour was 9 minutes and DD2 arrived weighing 9lbs 6oz. No tear, scratch, graze, anything! (had episiotomy 19 months earlier for DD1, 8lbs 5oz) DD2 was delivered onto my tummy and is absolutely perfect.

10 mins later room got a whole lot busier.

Next thing I'm coming round about 3 hours later.

Suffered major PPH losing 3500ml of blood and DP was spoke to about risk of hysterectomy. Was packed and had balloon inserted to stem blood loss and try clot uterus. (my details are vague on what exactly happened although was explained to me)

The care of the hospital staff was brilliant, but got home last night as just needed to be in my own environment as was getting no rest on the ward.

I'm now home, feeling fine but quite drained and shaky. I'm on a cocktail of tablets and my midwife visited today and is going to get a copy of my report so she can talk me through what exactly happened.

I know I'm extremely lucky and I'm grateful for my healthy DD's.

I'm just wondering how long people took to recover from this? I'm taking it really easy, DP is off work for 2 weeks but will stay off longer if needed, but as he's self employed it means no income. But to be honest I was hoping I'd be a bit more myself by then.

I had a shower and dried my hair today and felt really weak for about an hour after, poor DP is doing everything and I'm taking it easy and just having him bring me DD's when they need fed/cuddled/I need a cuddle. But I really want to get up off the couch and do things properly :D and play with my beautiful daughters!

TIA

Congratulations on the birth of your DD!

Crikey, your birth story sounds quite dramatic, quite a lot to digest I think.

I had a PPH (but a lot smaller than yours) and emergency surgery (for different reasons) 2 hours after my DD was born. This meant that I had a blood transfusion, which I was very grateful for, as I think I would have felt a lot worse without it.

It's possible that you're still so full of hormones and excitement about your new DD that the full impact of your PPH won't hit you for a while. It's very important that you have lots of rest, food and drink.

For the first few days after my DD's birth I kept getting a head rush every couple of minutes, which wasn't very pleasant.

Because I found my birth experience quite traumatic, I did a lot of reading about what happened to me. It is completely normal that you feel weak at the moment, this feeling won't last forever, but it is important to be gentle with yourself for a few weeks.

The less you do while your DH is at home, the better you'll feel when he's back at work.

Hope you feel better soon and enjoy your new DD!

Hello Lola

I'm afraid I have no experience relevant to what you've been through (one DS and one on the way - traumatic birth but for completely different reasons) but didn't want you to have to wait too long for a response.

Congratulations on the birth of your DD. Sounds like you've had a really scary experience - even if you weren't aware of what was going on at the time. Hopefully someone will come along soon who has experienced something similar and can help with your question. I would have thought this was the right place to post, but if you don't get many responses suppose you could put something more specific in the title? If I'm honest I don't know what a PPH is (but suppose H stands for haemorrhage?) but hopefully the right people will do!

Anyway, I do wish you all the best for a speedy recovery. My guess is that the time taken to recover varies a lot between people and I can only guess (not having experienced something similar) at the extent to which there is a significant mental/emotional recovery to make as well as a physical one.

Sorry can't be of more help, but hope someone else can be soon x

Sorry - cross posts with NomNomNom - glad it didn't take long

Congrats on your baby and hope you feel better soon. Sounds very scary, although a good birth experience until that point. Its lucky you were in hospial....

Don't have any experience of this but take it easy and hopefully you'll feel better soon - I suspect you'll feel normal sooner than you expect but try and rest as much as possible and drinks lots and eat lots.

hi, congratulations!! I had pph with both 1my labours, first natural delivery similar to you was fantastic, and then straight after al l hell broke loose, second was an ECS but still the same thing happened, I have been told it is something to do with my uterus, but even though ive been through it im still not really sure what happened. 1st time a had a transfusion 2nd time ais was didnt, this was only 10 weeks ago, and I was back to normal by 3 weeks after, but felt able to do things after about 10 days!! concentratting on getting yourself right is whats most important, as long as your dd's can have plenty of cuddles they will be fine, rest up, you'll feel great soon!!

My PPH was only 1500ml, so a lot smaller than yours, but it took me a good few weeks to stop feeling weak. I tried to go out for a walk after about 10 days and had to turn and come back because I just felt like I was going to fall over!! I didn't have a blood transfusion, just 3L of fluid through a drip, and was taking iron tablets for 6 weeks. DD2 is now 8 weeks old and I'm completely back to normal, and I would say I have been since she was about 4 weeks. DH did go back to work after his 2 weeks off though and I did manage, even though I have a 24 month old to run around after too. You just need to take it easy and don't rush into anything X

Hi thanks for all your replies.

I have reposted with a different thread title as suggested to get more folk experiences but I appreciate the replies so far!