Waited for theatre to remove placenta from 3:30pm - till midnight.

[Butterflytalks]

My water suddenly broken at 5months, I rushed to hospital 8pm on a Thursday. It was until next day Friday 3:30am I had given birth. The placenta was not detaching despite a few tries from the team to manual remove this. I was told I may go to theatre within the hour. The hours because multiple due to many emergencies and only 1 team for the theatre room. I waited patiently as I understood there are other emergencies related to childbirth. However my health deteriorated loosing a lot of blood through the hours. And became very weak on 2 separate episodes whilst waiting.

I understand my time added waiting for theatre whilst waiting in such a state. However when I look back I think it could have become very dangerous for me especially with the weakness that developed.

Just wondering if there are any similar cases, why there is only 1 theatre room in delivery suit.

Well whilst I’m sorry you were waiting and appeared to have a terrible time , genuinely not being facetious but in answer to your question theatres cost an absolute fortune to run , so therefore they don’t have lots of them on standby just in case . A quick google will tell you it’s approximately £1000 AN HOUR to run each theatre , & the NHS is on its knees already .

I don't understand if it was 3:30am or 3:30pm, but both are totally unacceptable. The attitude about the NHS seems 'be grateful for what you get' when people are literally dying through lack of proper care.

I'm sorry for your loss.

It was from 3:30pm* Friday I was told I will be going theatre in an hour to remove the placenta as the injection nor tablets was helping. It wasn’t until midnight I was moved in to start the procedure. I am high risk pregnancy and became very weak on two episodes whilst waiting and lost a litre of blood. I was being very patient understanding there are other emergencies. But when I look back I think it could have been extremely dangerous and I was about to faint.

Sorry for your loss @Butterflytalks.

I miscarried at 16 weeks and, like you, needed surgical management to remove the placenta. I suffered a post partum haemorrhage after delivery (lost 1.3L of blood) and so was rushed straight through to surgery after the birth. With kindness, they do need to triage patients based on medical need and this can change very quickly in obstetrics.

Have you opted for an autopsy? This could be something to discuss at that meeting or I believe you could ask for a post birth debrief with a midwife. Your bereavement midwife would be your first point of call on this.

I’m sorry you had such a rough experience - it’s horrific enough as it is without issues with your care. I was held in a back room on the acute gynaecology ward for quite some time after the scan and whilst actively miscarrying as there were no beds available on the delivery suite. I wish I’d been more vocal with the team, as I ended up transitioning as they wheeled me to the ward through public corridors etc, but I was all alone/my partner hadn’t arrived yet and ultimately on balance I’m happy with the care I received.

Not to say that you should be happy with your own care, just that it’s an incredibly shit situation to be in.

Thankyou for your message @GladiatorsFanand sorry for your loss.
I had hematoma from 8 weeks on and off I would have red discharge. I didn’t opt in for autopsy but placenta has been sent for testing. I am unsure what could have caused the random water burst, each scan was going perfectly well. I was on blood thinners and aspirin to manage the leak of the blood vessel the hematoma. In the week leading up to the labour I was experiencing a lot of gas, and could feel something like trapped wind in my belly that week. The labour was very long until next day. However the placenta was another 8 hours + waiting around.

surely that's the decision the doctors were making?

Did you suffer any ill-effects after the operation as a result of the delay?

what do you think should have been done differently?

I became very weak. They had multiple emergencies that day for theatre, so a clinician came to try and remove my placenta manually because of how busy it was. But she didn’t want to rip it out and I was told each time I have 30 mins to wait but this kept adding up. My blood pressure was very low, lost alot of of blood and could have fainted on two occasions. I do wonder where they would have to wheel me if the theatre room was busy?
Differently would of been if they had stuck to the plan of sending me in asap and reducing further weakness.
Because of my high risk pregnancy situation, it was planned that I must have a c section when the time was due. And all consultants were to be prepared for this. However due to emergency of going in it was just a protocol procedure.

This post is in the 'stillbirth' board so I think the question about 'how is your baby' is rather insensitive.

OP - I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you.

I'm so sorry, it came up in Active and I didnt check - my fault. I have asked for my post to be deleted.

OP I am so sorry for what happened to you. iI hope you get the debrief you want from the hospital for closure on that aspect. Clearly it doesn't soften your loss.

Hi OP
i am sorry that you experienced this. To answer your question most delivery suites have just one ‘proper’ theatre but there may be a large delivery room that could be converted to a second theatre if needed. The issue tends to be more with staffing. Obviously to be able to run a second theatre there needs to be a second team. In my experience there is never a second team on standby and available for obstetrics - there sadly just isn’t enough staff. As others have said it is a v tough job for those in charge to decide on the priority list for theatre and which order people go based on clinical need.
Sending you best wishes and hope you have physically covered a bit now.