Massive fetomaternal haemorrhage

[mozi]

Hi, My 3 month old daughter was delivered by emergency C section 4 weeks early following a massive fetomaternal haemorrhage. She was in the intensive care unit for a quite a wee while, ventilated and given a blood transfusion. At times we thought we were going to lose her. We were on holiday at the time so it really was a confusing and scary time. Luckly she now appears fine and is doing well but there are lots of questions I didn't ask and as it is a fairly rare occurance I have not come across anyone who has experienced the same things. Is there anyone out there who has gone through this or knows anything about this condition? Thanks

I'm so, so sorry to read about your experience Lydia. You absolutely must not think about if you'd 'reacted earlier' - these awful things are just so fast that you honestly couldn't have known. As I'm sure you've found out yourself if there is a gradual bleed that is when the luckiest of us, myself included, get the chance to notice - but the most serious ones like you suffered are just unstoppable.

The only solace I hope you will find is that I am SURE that in the huge majority of people it truly is a once in a lifetime tragedy and won't happen again.

The only other bit of info I was given was that I was told my son had a 'thin' cord. I had to research this myself (as you say - shockingly little info around about any of this stuff) and it actually means that he had no wharton's jelly around the blood vessels in the umbilical (which is what usually makes it feels so springy and gristly) which I have taken to mean that it could more easily have been compressed by the baby and could I guess result in the haemorrhage. I believe cord defects like this are again completely random - just blips in the way the cells divide etc so again - really very unlikely to recur in subsequent pregnancies.

Good luck to you all in the future,

Mrs Ruby
xx

Not sure if this thread is still in action but just to let you know, i am pregnant again and i am under supervision of a Obsteatrician. i am hoping everything will be ok this time and the same thing wont happen again. will post with an update xxx

technokiwi, that's great news, congratulations. I really hope everything goes well for you.

technokiwi can I ask how your next pregnancy went, especially in the NZ system?

I lost my baby girl last month at 36 because of an FMH, I was in the hospital for a check the night before she died so it was a fast massive bleed. I wish could have done something.
No matter how many questions I ask I can't get any new answers and another baby is the next step for my husband and I, were ypu looked after well second time? I'm scared beacuse I feel like this shouldn't have to happen once to then be looked after...

I know this is a really old thread but there really is such little information out there and for those searching, like me, I thought it made sense to keep everything together.

@technokiwi @MrsRuby and anybody else, I wondered if you had any further information than on here? My daughter died from a FMH last month and I am also struggling to understand and full of guilt.

@KiwiMum22 I am sorry for you loss. Did you find out anymore answers about this?

Ah GreyCat I'm so sorry. It is very unlikely that you could have changed the outcome, you were so unlucky.
I've been a midwife for 30 years and have seen it once. Never even knew it was a thing that could happen. No one could tell me why. The neonatologists were equally shocked and confused. There were no warning signs at all.

MrsGreYCat so sorry for your loss

Thank you @mayhew but I still keep thinking of the what ifs. Apparently it was a massive bleed (pretty much all of her blood) and I’m hoping to know more once I get the post mortem results although I am also dreading them in case I did so something wrong or could have changed the outcome.