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July 2015 Moms
mamashels
member
The Scariest Moment of my Life
mamashels
member
Good Morning Bumpies. I want to share my story with you, as a reminder to NEVER HESITATE TO CALL your doctor, nurse, midwife, emergency services or whoever.
I suffered from delayed postpartum hemmorage (PPH). Don't read any further if this will freak you out.
My due date was July 7. I had pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) the majority of my pregnancy. I had several bouts in and out of the hospital because my pressures would skyrocket and I also had two UTIs during my pregnancy. I was put on bedrest at 28 weeks due to my BP being so high and was deemed "pre-preeclampsia". I was officially diagnosed with preeclampsia at 35+5 when my pressures shot up to 157/107 and protein in my urine was close to 600. I was admitted to the hospital on bedrest until my sweet princess was born.
Ralynn Reese arrived via induced labor at 37 weeks on June 16, 2015 at 2:17pm. She was beautiful, weighing 8lbs and was 21 inches long. She was and is a very healthy baby! She is my precious pride and joy and will be my one and only child. God blessed us so much that day.
Everything was good to go two days later and we went home from the hospital with our cute lil cabbage patch kid.
Her bilirubin levels were slightly high so we had to go to the pediatrician two days later and got to experience home light therapy in all of it's glory, and I eventually had to deal with the defeated feelings of not being able to breastfeed.
Two weeks fly by faster than the blink of an eye and were all doing great! Daddy has returned to work, I have set up daycare for my return to work in a month, and me and Reese are working on getting a routine down. Life is good. Everything is healing nicely from labor and there have been no issues. I didn't even take any pain medicines following!
However, July 2, 2015 will forever be a nightmare to me. Around lunch I had bleeding that felt like I peed myself, at this point the bleeding had slacked so much I was wearing regular pads - no more maxi pads! So when I had this gush of blood it made a bit of a mess. I cleaned myself up, put on a maxi and called the nurse line just to check in since the heaviest I had bled since delivery was a heavy period. It bled very heavily for a bit then slacked up to a moderate period flow. An hour later I had another gush and then it slacked back up. The nurse returned my call and said this was normal. Roughly two weeks after delivery where your placenta is removed has been scabbed up sort of and it comes off which will sometimes cause what's like gushes of blood. Se assured me that if I wasn't bleeding through a maxi every 30 minutes for 2 hours I was perfectly fine.
At 10:30pm I had another gush of blood. And another. And another. Followed by some small/medium sized clots. I tried to get off of my toilet twice and bled straight through two maxis in about 5 minutes. I cleaned myself up and tried to go get my phone to call the nurse. I made it two steps from the toilet and apparently passed out. My husband picked me up off the floor in a panic. I messed up my shoulder and broke my glasses with my fall. I got back on the toilet and he found my phone. The nurse told me to come into the ER at the hospital I delivered at (which is an hour and twenty from my house). I asked if I could go to the local ER (about 15 minutes from my house) and she told me they were not affiliated with them and I needed to come there. We got a sitter for sweet Reese and went to leave.
As I stood up to go to the car I literally felt like my insides just fell between my knees. I went to the bathroom and I had a clot the size of my hand in my underwear and blood had gushed down both my legs. My husband carried me to his truck and we started hauling ass.
About 3 minutes down the road, I felt like I was going to vomit and pass out again. My vision started fading. I couldn't see at all. My hands and arms started tingling like when you hold your hands above your head for too long. I started to panic. I remember telling my husband, "Take me to Blount (the ER by our house). I think I'm dying. I know I'm dying. I won't make it downtown. Take me to Blount." The last thing I remember from that car ride is praying to God and crying, "Lord please don't let me die, my baby needs me and I need her." Then I woke up in the ER.
I overheard the nurses telling the doctor that I was gray in color when I arrived and even my lips had no color. My blood pressure was 88/44. My pants were heavy they were soaked with so much blood and I could see blood all on the bed.
After two bags of blood was transfused and this crazy thing called a "vag pack" (they pack your lady bits with gauze to stop bleeding) I was transported to the downtown hospital that I delivered at. The ER we stopped at has no OB and really didn't even have the supplies or meds to treat me but were at least able to stabilize me. They saved my life.
I had late PPH. I didn't even know this could happen. I thought two weeks after delivery and I'm doing fabulous! I had no idea this could happen or even what was going on! My uterus did not fully contract down and when the 'placenta scab' came off the blood vessels did not constrict and I kept bleeding freely. I've spent my entire weekend in the hospital hooked up on fluids, antibiotics, and estrogen. My mom has been watching my baby. My husband hasn't left my side. The stories he has told me of the bits I can't recall are horrifying. He told me when they moved me from the wheelchair to the bed there was a puddle in the chair. The clots kept getting bigger and bigger that it looked like a "small animal giving birth". He said he sat there staring at me thinking "what the hell would I do without my wife?" He was a damn trooper though, I never once saw fear or worry on his face.
A friend of mine was a nurse at the ER we stopped at. She said, "No offense, but I've seen dead people that looked better than you when you got there. I've only seen this happen one other time and the woman coded. Thank God y'all chose to stop or you would have bled out before you made it downtown."
I survived. By Gods grace I survived. So please, if you ever have anything 'not normal' to you PLEASE call and ask someone. Even if they tell you it's okay if you feel something's wrong don't delay. It could be your life. I never want to experience anything like that EVER again and I cannot wait to get back to my sweet baby girl!
I suffered from delayed postpartum hemmorage (PPH). Don't read any further if this will freak you out.
My due date was July 7. I had pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) the majority of my pregnancy. I had several bouts in and out of the hospital because my pressures would skyrocket and I also had two UTIs during my pregnancy. I was put on bedrest at 28 weeks due to my BP being so high and was deemed "pre-preeclampsia". I was officially diagnosed with preeclampsia at 35+5 when my pressures shot up to 157/107 and protein in my urine was close to 600. I was admitted to the hospital on bedrest until my sweet princess was born.
Ralynn Reese arrived via induced labor at 37 weeks on June 16, 2015 at 2:17pm. She was beautiful, weighing 8lbs and was 21 inches long. She was and is a very healthy baby! She is my precious pride and joy and will be my one and only child. God blessed us so much that day.
Everything was good to go two days later and we went home from the hospital with our cute lil cabbage patch kid.
Her bilirubin levels were slightly high so we had to go to the pediatrician two days later and got to experience home light therapy in all of it's glory, and I eventually had to deal with the defeated feelings of not being able to breastfeed. Two weeks fly by faster than the blink of an eye and were all doing great! Daddy has returned to work, I have set up daycare for my return to work in a month, and me and Reese are working on getting a routine down. Life is good. Everything is healing nicely from labor and there have been no issues. I didn't even take any pain medicines following!
However, July 2, 2015 will forever be a nightmare to me. Around lunch I had bleeding that felt like I peed myself, at this point the bleeding had slacked so much I was wearing regular pads - no more maxi pads! So when I had this gush of blood it made a bit of a mess. I cleaned myself up, put on a maxi and called the nurse line just to check in since the heaviest I had bled since delivery was a heavy period. It bled very heavily for a bit then slacked up to a moderate period flow. An hour later I had another gush and then it slacked back up. The nurse returned my call and said this was normal. Roughly two weeks after delivery where your placenta is removed has been scabbed up sort of and it comes off which will sometimes cause what's like gushes of blood. Se assured me that if I wasn't bleeding through a maxi every 30 minutes for 2 hours I was perfectly fine.
At 10:30pm I had another gush of blood. And another. And another. Followed by some small/medium sized clots. I tried to get off of my toilet twice and bled straight through two maxis in about 5 minutes. I cleaned myself up and tried to go get my phone to call the nurse. I made it two steps from the toilet and apparently passed out. My husband picked me up off the floor in a panic. I messed up my shoulder and broke my glasses with my fall. I got back on the toilet and he found my phone. The nurse told me to come into the ER at the hospital I delivered at (which is an hour and twenty from my house). I asked if I could go to the local ER (about 15 minutes from my house) and she told me they were not affiliated with them and I needed to come there. We got a sitter for sweet Reese and went to leave.
As I stood up to go to the car I literally felt like my insides just fell between my knees. I went to the bathroom and I had a clot the size of my hand in my underwear and blood had gushed down both my legs. My husband carried me to his truck and we started hauling ass.
About 3 minutes down the road, I felt like I was going to vomit and pass out again. My vision started fading. I couldn't see at all. My hands and arms started tingling like when you hold your hands above your head for too long. I started to panic. I remember telling my husband, "Take me to Blount (the ER by our house). I think I'm dying. I know I'm dying. I won't make it downtown. Take me to Blount." The last thing I remember from that car ride is praying to God and crying, "Lord please don't let me die, my baby needs me and I need her." Then I woke up in the ER.
I overheard the nurses telling the doctor that I was gray in color when I arrived and even my lips had no color. My blood pressure was 88/44. My pants were heavy they were soaked with so much blood and I could see blood all on the bed.
After two bags of blood was transfused and this crazy thing called a "vag pack" (they pack your lady bits with gauze to stop bleeding) I was transported to the downtown hospital that I delivered at. The ER we stopped at has no OB and really didn't even have the supplies or meds to treat me but were at least able to stabilize me. They saved my life.
I had late PPH. I didn't even know this could happen. I thought two weeks after delivery and I'm doing fabulous! I had no idea this could happen or even what was going on! My uterus did not fully contract down and when the 'placenta scab' came off the blood vessels did not constrict and I kept bleeding freely. I've spent my entire weekend in the hospital hooked up on fluids, antibiotics, and estrogen. My mom has been watching my baby. My husband hasn't left my side. The stories he has told me of the bits I can't recall are horrifying. He told me when they moved me from the wheelchair to the bed there was a puddle in the chair. The clots kept getting bigger and bigger that it looked like a "small animal giving birth". He said he sat there staring at me thinking "what the hell would I do without my wife?" He was a damn trooper though, I never once saw fear or worry on his face.
A friend of mine was a nurse at the ER we stopped at. She said, "No offense, but I've seen dead people that looked better than you when you got there. I've only seen this happen one other time and the woman coded. Thank God y'all chose to stop or you would have bled out before you made it downtown."
I survived. By Gods grace I survived. So please, if you ever have anything 'not normal' to you PLEASE call and ask someone. Even if they tell you it's okay if you feel something's wrong don't delay. It could be your life. I never want to experience anything like that EVER again and I cannot wait to get back to my sweet baby girl!
Re: The Scariest Moment of my Life
So glad you're ok! Thanks for sharing your story, I think it's important for women to be aware various risks of childbirth both during labor AND post partum recovery.
I recently told my doctor I was having chest pain for a while and I felt so dumb afterwards for telling because they checked and now they are saying I may need heart surgery after I give birth. I always feel they just want more money, but maybe I am saving my life.
I hope your recovery goes smoothly from here.
Not in anyway saying ignore them.. Just make sure you see a cardiologist first! When I was pregnant with my first I had really bad pre eclampsia, and had chest pains all the time.. My heart was always acting off.. They told me I had valve damage.. I went to HELPP syndrome, after she was born it got better so I ignored it.. When I was pregnant with my second I got pre eclampsia again, wasn't as bad.. Chest pains weren't as bad. After she was born I was on some meds, and had trouble with my heart rate. It would drop into the 30's when I slept.. And stay 50's when I was awake.. Told I had bradycardia, sinus arythmia, and my valve didn't work as well.. My normal doctor told me he wanted to put a pace maker in.. I was scared.. I went off the meds (anxiety meds.. Horrible evil things) and suddenly everything got better! Met with better doctors, chest pain was due to pre eclampsia, bradycardia is actually very normal, valve damage from pre eclampsia isn't life threatening.. And most the time works itself out.. And sinus arythmia is a very common thing and is just basically an abnormal heart rate. All this is something I need to watch.. But at this point in my life having any kind of device stuck in would be pointless.
Anyways, as I said don't ignore them. They may be 100% right. But make sure you talk to a specialist before you have a life changing operation. And also watch those chest pains.. There usually an early warning sign for pre eclampsia. Was my first sign this pregnancy, my bp was perfect and no protein in a single dip.. But had headaches and chest pain and stomach pain before anything else.
Not trying to scare you.
Keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
We should never disregard what we feel especially with regard to our bodies. Thank God you're recovering now. Thoughts and prayers for you.
DS1 7/24/15
DS2 5/7/17
To go through such a tramtic experience! I'm soo
Happy you are doing well now! What a relief for your baby girl
And hubby!
I'm one who usually keeps quiet as well so I'm thankful to you for sharing your story. So happy you get to go home to your baby. I know you'll be loving on her all day.