Haemorrhage in first labour - second baby?

[pinkpig381]

Hi Mums,

My baby is three months old now and during his birth I lost 2.5L of blood due to haemorrhaging not long after he came out. They managed to stop the bleeding and I luckily avoided a transfusion, I'm just wondering if I was to have another baby would the consultant prefer me to have a normal delivery again or would they want me to have a caesarean?

Just wondered if anyone else had any personal experience! No plans on baby number two yet but it's something that has crossed my mind because the birth was quite traumatic.
Thanks!

Why the f*ck would you risk that again? Mental.

I have two girl friends who nearly bled out on the table too though so it isn't uncommon.

I just don't get why any woman would risk their life that way, especially now knowing it is a possibility.

You already have a baba, you gotta stay around for him if not for yourself. Take no chances!

This happened to me with my DD2 and I went on to have DS as a normal delivery. I was on a drip with a special drug to make sure If I did start then that would stop it.

I am pregnant with DS2 and planning a normal delivery again.

I hemoraged quite a bit after my last delivery. Didn't need a transfusion after all but stayed an extra day in hospital as I was anemic after.

You can hemorage also after a c-section too , there is no guarantee it will be smoother. But when time cones you can discuss your previous labour with a consultant and see what's best for you.

I will still go for VB this time too.

I had a PPH after my ds2 and needed surgery and a transfusion. I had consultant led care for DD, c section was never suggested, the plan was I came in to delivery suite early in labour as I had delivered very fast, had an i/v put in, had managed third stage and they had crossmatched blood on standby. In the event DD was born very shortly after arrival (80 min labour!) and they had no time to get i/v in, but I had v minimal blood loss. Good luck!

@pinkbonbon by your logic the species would die out pretty quickly - there's always a risk involved in childbirth, and actually the recurrence rate of PPH is not that high. More likely to be an issue when it is unexpected.

I've read a lot of the NHS stuff on this as I had exactly the same thing - I believe C section increases your risk of blood loss so would not be encouraged. But I'm not medically qualified or anything!

I've currently made the decision to stick with one child because I am just not brave enough to go through it all again!

I lost over 3lt with DD1 - probably more as much of it ended up on the floor. I had emergency surgery and 6 transfusions over 3 days. The first 3 transfusions brought my HB up to 7.0 (from 14.8 the day before I gave birth). I had to stay in hospital for 7 days.

I had a normal birth with dd2 - this went a lot better as the hospital was much better organised with different injections to control bleeding. I was able to leave hospital after 12 hours.

20 years later I was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome which explains why my uterus failed to remain contracted

this happened to me with first labour. I did have to have a transfusion. I had 2 c-sections afterwards.

I had a PPH with DC1, I lost 2.1litres of blood. During my debrief they were unclear on the cause of the haemorrhage but thought it was probably from a sizeable episiotomy rather than my uterus failing to contract. For DC2 due to other complications I needed a c section and the risk of a PPH was discussed but I was given medication to reduce the chances of this happening and this time lost less than 500ml!

I had a pph with dd1 along with an emergency CS due to a cord prolapse. Had to have several transfusions afterwards which was pretty dire.
Planned on vbac with my second baby several years later, but ended up having another emergency CS due to baby being in distress. I haemorrhaged again but not as severely, and my consultant recommended another transfusion but I opted not to and just went on iron tablets.
Coincidentally (?) I developed pernicious anaemia within months of the birth.

I think a vbac is certainly something to aim for. I was unlucky to have it happen twice, no more for me.

If you had a PPH you’re at risk of having another, so if you do have another baby you should have the oxytocin Injection to deliver the placenta and then an infusion which will run slowly to help your uterus contract and help control the bleeding after baby is born.

I know that the blood loss looked scary and was more than is generally lost after birth, however during pregnancy blood plasma volume increases up to 50% and its one of the ways nature helps your body compensate for blood loss following birth.

Further info

I had a PPH with my first baby, lost 3 litres of blood and was very poorly. I worried constantly during my second pregnancy but it all went really well and I didn’t haemorrhage :)

I had PPH with my first and with my second. They were prepared for it second time round though, I was under consultant led care. There was never any talk of me having a C section though.

Thank you everyone for your replies! Hopefully if I do have another it might not happen again, and if it does they will be on standby with the care I'll need.
I did have an injection to get the placenta out once baby was out but it didn't work and they gave me another one and that didn't work either, the consultant was manually trying to get the placenta to come out by pressing hard on my stomach, it's very blurry still! I just remember lots of people suddenly in the room and them trying to cannulate me 🥴