A MUM who lost three litres of blood during childbirth has opened up about her traumatic labour.
Jessica Hood, from Australia, who gave birth on Boxing Day last year, said things got so bad she “thought I was going to die” in a piece for Mamamia.
The stay at home mum-of-four went into spontaneous labour with her three older kids, but had to be induced with her youngest son Harrison.
Jessica began to worry when midwives revealed she had placenta accreta, meaning her placenta had grown too deeply into the uterus’ wall to detach naturally after childbirth.
She gave birth to a healthy baby at 3.26pm, but this was only the beginning of Jessica’s labour pains.
Midwives struggled to remove her placenta and, when she started bleeding heavily, they pushed an emergency button, summoning a team of surgeons, nurses and other midwives.
She said: “It seemed like I was laying there forever with the team of medical staff working on me. With every minute passing, I felt like I was closer to death. My anxiety was out of control; I was living my worst nightmare.
“I was going to die giving birth and leave my children, my new baby and my husband.”
A surgeon asked Jessica to sign a document, giving permission for a hysterectomy, and rushed her into surgery.
She said: “I was feeling weaker by the minute, I knew if I didn’t I would die.”
Postpartum haemorrhage: the facts
Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is a complication where a mum bleeds heavily from the vagina after her baby’s birth.
There are two types – primary (taking place in the first 24 hours) or delayed (taking place up to six weeks later).
It normally happens because the mum’s womb doesn’t contract strongly enough after birth, because part of the placenta is left in the womb, or because of endometriosis.
Bleeding after childbirth is common, but PPH causes heavy bleeding (more than 500ml).
Five in 100 mums get PPH but severe haemorhage (more than 2 litres) is much rarer, affecting six in 1,000 mums here in Britain.
Mums-to-be can get more info from the NHS here.
When she woke again three hours later, at 6.30pm, Jessica was told she had suffered a severe primary postpartum hemorrhage.
Jessica learned her placenta had become stuck and was manually removed. She had lost three litres of blood but managed to avoid a hysterectomy.
When she was finally reunited with her husband Karl and baby son, Jessica broke down in tears.
And it wasn’t an easy recovery either. Jessica, who already had a low iron count, was kept in hospital for days receiving blood transfusions – and said the mental scars remain.
Jessica admits she still thinks about her traumatic labour most days.
She added: “I’m telling my story because birth trauma is real and isn’t spoken about enough. It’s something that affects so many women every single day.”
Yesterday, we revealed how one dad had the fright of his life when his wife washed a T-shirt with his baby’s face on it.
