Coping with major PPH anyone else had similar experience?

[lola0109]

Hi all, I posted this elsewhere but someone suggested changing thread title to get more feedback. This was my original post...

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. Was transfused with 2 units of blood and bag of platelets. (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 and play with my beautiful daughters!

TIA

Lola, that sounds really scary for you and I am so sorry you went through such a horrid experience.

I had a minor PPH, hardly classed as one really (about 5-600ml) and remember being very scared, but it was minor, and stopped when they injected the syntometrine, thank goodness - it was a home birth and about 45 mins from hospital, so they did panic briefly.

It sounds as though you are recovering really well though it must be so frustrating. Have they given you any idea why it might have happened...or do you have to wait till the mw has your notes?

Take care, and take it easy x
Oh, and congratulations!!

Had PPH due to retained placenta but refused blood transfusion as levels only went to 7 (so was not critical).......still, underwent the sort of recovery that you are probably going through ....i.e. feeling very shaky and traumatised by experience of manual removal and also absolutely NO energy. I think that it used to take me about half an hour to go to the loo as I had to keep resting along the way. It was very frustrating and i needed a lot of support from family and paid help as I couldn't stand up and hold my baby for risk of collapse. It felt quite lonely and isolating as I felt a bit detached from the world as i couldn't go out or even get downstairs for fear of collapse. HOWEVER, I rested up, did some really good bonding with my baby, and also with the sky plus box in my bedroom....by the end of 4 weeks i was ready to venture out and even though it had been a lonely 4 weeks, it had given my body a great opportunity to recover from the physical and the mental impact of the birth, so I was in really good shape......SUCH a difference to my first birth when I was trying to be superwoman on day 3. So in a way, it was a bit of a silver lining......just try to take it easy, and stay in bed for as long as you possibly can! Good luck!

Thanks for the replies.

Haven't asked for my notes yet but midwife will be back out on monday so hopefully this will shed some light.

My mum was my midwife during labour but obviously as soon as the haemorraging started I was taken into theatre so thats where her involvement ended.

I will ask my mum but I think she is still so traumatised by it herself so will wait a week or so but I think they were under the impression it was the uterus that wasn't contracting.

I feel quite guilty as I was totally unaware of what was going on due to gas and air and morphine and just kept asking the people around my bed their names as they were trying to do their work. Then when I came round I saw my DP, mum and dad's faces! What a fright I gave everyone!

I have had this twice although blood loss was just over 1000ml so not as bad as yours and was on the verge of being given blood but didnt need it in the end.

Both times I had lovely births like you, the difference is that although I felt the room going black I didn't actually pass out and had to stay awake for the trauma of loads of people staring and putting their hands up my (rather sore) fanjo

I am having another baby next month and am terrified of it happening again. I'm under consultant care and have been told it may well happen but they will be well prepared....

Scared though...

Oh and my Mum was also totally traumatised, she is refusing to be anywhere near me this time and says my DH can manage!

Oh forgot to say recovery... duh.. preggo brain.

Took me about a month to stop feeling exhausted. I remember going to pick one of the older children up from school a few days after the birth (it's just round the corner) and sweating profusely!! My iron was only about 7 and I was put on tablets for a few weeks to build it back up.

I agree with lumpa, just take it easy and remember it's not a race to get out and do things. Use this time to bond. xx

I had pph with my second child and lost 3000 + mls. I had problems with exhaustion, possible due to anaemia. I had problems with my milk supply in the first 2 weeks. was physically ok after about 2 or 3 weeks, certainly by 6 week check, but later on developed PND, possible unrelated to the traumatic experience but I'm not sure. Just had my 3rd child by elective cs and no pph, although I was terrified it would happen again.
Let your DH do everything for a while and get your strength back. It takes time. Can anyone else help you after DH goes back to work?
Having a debrief with a doctor who was present at the time would help you get over it mentally.

Hi, I gave birth to my son seven weeks ago. Like you I had a big pph (2500mls) and had a ga in theatre, packing and balloon etc. I had four units of blood in theatre and was readmitted after discharge for two more. I feel much better now, and after my last two units of blood three days post birth I felt great. I would say watch out for signs of anaemia, as when I had a hb of 7ish I felt like death. Take it easy, you will be back on track soon. Also as a pp has said have a debrief if you can. I had a lot of opiates and these can have an amnesia inducing effect.

My PPH was only 1600ml but i did need 2 units of blood 3 days postpartum as i was too weak to care for DD properly.

Felt much better after 2wks but then dipped again slightly after 5wks (prob due to the fact that donor blood has a shorter lifespan than your own) And felt normal again physically by 7wks.

Psycologically i'm only just getting back to ok 12wks later, it was a very traumatic experience. I still can't bring myself to watch one born every minute yet!

Thanks all.

I will definitely ask for a debrief. I'm getting concerned as DD is feeding a lot but never seems satisfied and I'm worried that my milk supply is inadequate, she is feeding every 45 minutes for about 15 minutes.

Anyone experience this?

I have the midwife on Monday so she will weigh her and hopefully she'll have put on plenty of weight. She has plenty of wet and dirty nappies though so I'm taking that as a good sign.

Thanks again for replies

This is normal until your milk is in properly and settled down, but double check that baby is actually swallowing and not just using you as a dummy!

Also DD will almost certainly have lost weight, nearly all babies weigh less at thier first weigh in so don't be suprised or upset she'll soon put it all back on and quickly outgrow her first size clothes

littler first size clothes??? She was 9lbs 6oz, she never even fitted them in first place

I'm sure she is feeding well, i'm just finding this every 45 minutes a bit much. Obviously I am really tired as it is but I feel that if this feeding pattern continues then I might have to give up with the breastfeeding as I have DD1 to consider as well and need some energy!

With DD1 she also fed every often, but would settle and sleep after feeds, DD2 seems to have been awake most of the day and spends her time awake between feeds chewing on her hands or sucking on any bare skin she come in contact with!

15 mins every 45 mins doesn't sound right. A baby needs to feed for more than 15 mins to access the hindmilk.. as others said probably ok until your milk comes in but after than should be able to do 2.5 - 3 hours between feeds.

I don't know what your opinions on dummies are but sounds like she might need one. I had a slightly different prob dd would feed constantly for up to 2 hour at a time! until i realised she was feeding for 25min and then just sucking for comfort. Maybe a soother might make her go longer between feeds and then she will feed for longer at a time.

Don't worry about baby becoming attached to dummy DD has long since given up on hers and shes only 12wks but it really helped for first few weeks and prevented slobbery sleepsuit cuffs.

P.s DD would not take the special flat dummies for newborns but she would take a tommee tippee cherry teat also suitable from 0+

Hi everyone, I've been reading your posts and its dreadful what everyone went through, particulary at a time thats meant to be so joyful. I've have a similar story but sadly it ended in a hysterectomy (at 32yrs and just had my 1st child it was pretty crap to say the least!).

I don't want to wallow but what caught my eye is the size of one of your babies, over 9lb! I (was!) a short size 8, put on 3 stone and went to a size 14 and went my little one wsa born he was a whomping 9lb 4.5oz.

I'm beginning to do some research and believe that the size of the mother and the potention size of the baby is becomming more of a pattern.

Would you ladies mind letting me know:-

1. how old you were when you gave birth to you PPH child?
2. what weight your baby was? 3)how much did you put on over your pregnancy?

I would take annonomous responses too if these are too personal for you. I fully understand that recovery and just getting through the day is your key priority.

Many thanks and best wishes

Heather

I also suffered PPH but, I think, it was due to the fact that not all of the placenta came away.

To answer the questions though:

1 - 36
2 - 7lb 6oz
3 - 2 stone

I had flagged heavy bleeding when they took me onto the ward but the labour unit was so busy that they needed my birthing room asap. I thought I had been shot when I woke up; I was sweating heavily and passing clots.

After 3 days in hospital a consultant saw me and apologised. I was reassured by that as I saw my hospital notes and they did not reflect what had been happening while I was there. I had pressed my alarm bell for assistance etc as I was exceedingly concerned and frightened but my notes simply stated things like "patient still bleeding". As a friend said, "the dead cannot talk.".

I had some post-trauma counselling through my health centre which helped enormously. My advice echoes many others, rest, talk and take time to get over this.

Heather:

1 - 28
2 - 8lb 2oz
3 - 2 stone

Lola How are you feeling now?

1. 27 and 5'4"
2. 8lb 3oz
3. About 2 stone (was 8 1/2 stone before PG)

Pudding so sorry to hear your story too. Not sure if this counts given it was after an em c section and PPHs are the commonest side effect but I had a 1300ml one after the delivery of my first child, DS, 10 months ago, after he got stuck occiput transverse.

1. 30, 5'7" but small framed (particularly pelvis sigh)
2. 9lb 6oz but not fat just huge - he was 98th centile for height.
3. 2 and a half stone. And it was ALL bump - even during my labour a trainee midwife commented on what a small waist I had

I've had two major pphs

dc1:

I was 25

I had gestational diabetes, severe SPD and pre-eclampsia, and polyhydramnios and a retained placenta and a third degree tear

dc1 was born 6 weeks early and was 8lb7oz

I was in a wheelchair for several months and in hospital for 6 weeks and I put on a vast amount of weight

dc2:

I was 27

I had hypertension all the way through (it never settled after the first pregnancy) but not the other problems

dc2 was born at 38 weeks and was 9lb2oz

I was overweight, but nothing like as drastically as with sc1

Both pphs were pretty massive and I had major tears both times too

I was 28, baby 6lb 13 and not sure how much weight I gained during pregnancy (probably 2stone or so - but never wanted to weigh myself!)
PPH of 7 litres due to sepsis leading to DIC + uterus failing to contract - delivery by emergency section. Had somewhere around 20 units of blood products (blood, platelets, FFP + fibrinogen). Had balloon to uterus, B lynch suture, avoided hysterectomy thanks to absolutely fantastic obstetric team.
My little girl is 3 years old now - took me about 6-8 weeks to feel physically ok and not sure how long emotionally. Still feel scared now thinking about another pregnancy - but less so. Husband very traumatised - all of this was with epidural so he was present - until he was asked to leave and left alone to pace up and down and wait and think the worst. Hopefully we'll have another baby in a year or so - but we'll both be scared, I know.

Hi all, just to let you all know, DD2 now 12 weeks old and feeding/sleeping like a dream, settled at about 6 weeks.

I'm feeling great but very tired, not sure whether that's due to having 2 kids under 2 (one very active and very demanding toddler) or if its other reasons. Going to speak to HV at next check but I'm sure all is well.

Had a great 6 week check at the hospital and they talked me through everything that happened and I feel fine about it all now!

Pudding just to clarify

1. 29 and 5'8" and medium/large build
2. 9lbs 6 oz
3. 9lbs (so yes taking baby weight away I actually lost weight but was the same with DD1)

Hope that is of some help, but I think my PPh was caused by very quick 2nd and 3rd stages (9 mins and 7 mins), large baby and large placenta.

Hi

I had a pph with my son last year. I had a very, very long labour with contractions for eight days and active labour for five. I was absolutely exhausted and anaemic before the birth anyway (hb levels 6). It was very much a horror birth and my son was emergency forceps after near crashing.

I lost at least 2000ml. About 10 mins after the birth I felt very strange - sick, shaky and sweaty as if I couldn't breathe properly. No-one had counted how much I had lost because of my son's critical position, and I started passing out - my blood pressure went to 50/30. Was stabilised on saline immediately and then they sent for 4 units of blood, and received 2 units.

Spent two days in HDU but honestly felt sooo much better after the blood and probably didn't need to be there (although they said that they wanted to make sure the bleeding did not reoccur).

I was on iron tablets a long, long time (3 months) and felt very tired for a couple of months (but that's newborn sleep deprivation as well)but felt fine again 2 - 3 months later with much more energy.

In my case they told me that the pph was most likely caused by the very long labour as the uterus would not contract after - the poor thing was shattered.

30 5'2 small/medium build
6lb 15oz
1 stone

1. how old you were when you gave birth to you PPH child? 25
2. what weight your baby was? over 14lbs between them (twins full term) 3)how much did you put on over your pregnancy? (3 stone)

I lost about 3.5 L and was very ill. It happened sometime after a c section (hour or so) was rushed back for another op.

Amazingly I had another baby afterwards by c section and had no bleeding problems!! Just to give others hope if they hope to have further pregnancies! I was scared all the way through about bleeding to death but it went really well