Yahoo Lifestyle Amazing birth stories - "I thought I had miscarried our baby"
My partner, Dean, and I had only been together for eight weeks when I found out I was pregnant. We were both very shocked, but excited.
The pregnancy went well until my 25th week, when I began to bleed. My doctor assured me it was normal, but three weeks later a wet sensation woke me up in the night. I went to the toilet, where three huge blood clots gushed into the toilet bowl.
I screamed and Dean came running. He rushed off to call the ambulance. I thought I had miscarried our baby. Twenty minutes later the ambos appeared at our door. As they started to check me, I felt the baby kick. The relief was overwhelming.
No answers
We were taken by ambulance to the local hospital and I was hooked up to different machines and told I would have to have a steroid injection to mature the baby’s lungs if I went into labour. Not long after I arrived, I was transferred to a hospital three hours away in the city, which was better equipped for premature births. For the next four days, while I continued to bleed, the staff at the new hospital did all manner of tests to try and work out what was going on. They told me I had placenta praevia, a complication where the placenta grows in the lowest part of the womb. They couldn’t work out why
I was bleeding, though. It finally stopped and two days later I was allowed home.
An early arrival
Three days after I got home, the bleeding started again. I went back to our local hospital and was transferred to another hospital in the city. All the tests found was the low-lying placenta. Nothing else seemed to be wrong. Eventually I was allowed home, but had to stop in at our local hospital for a check-up. When I arrived I didn’t look well, so my doctor admitted me to the maternity ward. Later that night I was woken by a wet sensation. I was bleeding heavily again. I pressed the buzzer and within 15 minutes was being transferred to another hospital in the city. I stayed there for three weeks.
During my stay my placenta lifted, so I no longer had placenta praevia. They still couldn’t find a reason for the bleeding, though, and ended up transferring me back to my local hospital to be induced. I was worried, but excited about meeting my baby!
After a few days in hospital, it was time for the induction. It took a while before the contractions kicked in, but when they did they were strong and fast. I sucked on the gas and agreed to a morphine injection. Later on I had an epidural. A few hours after that I began to push and also to bleed heavily.
Due to the blood loss I became very weak. The vacuum appeared and after numerous pulls and tugs, my baby girl came out bruised, but otherwise healthy.
Phoebe was put on my chest straight away and then taken for her checks. She was 3.2kg and 47.5cm.
Meanwhile, my placenta had become stuck, so a midwife tried to get it out by kneading my stomach. I continued to bleed and the next thing I knew I was signing consent forms to go to theatre to have the placenta surgically removed. I was told if it didn’t come away in theatre they would have to take my uterus, too.
Touch and go
While sedated in theatre, my life was on the line. I had to be given a massive blood transfusion of six bags of blood and four bags of blood products. The placenta was stuck and I had a partial hysterectomy.
I spent the next three days in intensive care on life support and almost died twice. When I woke up I was told about what they had to do to save my life. I was inconsolable.
When I returned to the maternity ward I was finally able to hold and feed my daughter. I couldn’t do much else, so Dean and my mum took care of her, feeding and changing her and giving her lots of cuddles. Phoebe and I went home a week later.
Still no-one has been able to tell me the cause of the bleeding. Some doctors suspect a broken artery, but I guess we’ll never know for sure. It’s taken a long time for my physical scars to heal and the emotional scars are still raw. I’m 27 years old and knowing I can’t have any more children breaks my heart. However, I’ll be eternally grateful that I’m alive and have a healthy little girl, a wonderful partner and a loving family. I love them more than they‘ll ever know.
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