Did anyone else experience postpartum hemorrhage after a really good vaginal birth?

[MB34]

I had a pretty good birth with DS on 24th Nov - 10 hours from first contraction to him being born, with just gas and air, no complications or interventions.

About an hour after he was born, I tried to get up for a shower and was still bleeding and had clots in my cervix which the midwife couldn't get out. I was then examined by a registrar, who couldn't get them out either or determine the cause. I then was rushed into theatre, where the clots were removed but no cause of bleeding was found.

All in all, I lost about 2.3 litres of blood, my veins shut down so had to have the drips in the vena cava in my neck and a blood transfusion.

Did anyone else experienced this or anything similar? The hospital say they don't know why it happened but it may be to do with that I didn't have the syntocinon injection when DS was being delivered. Is this true?

[inadreamworld]

Hi just wanted to say how horrible for you. I lost 1 litre and 250ml blood after a vaginal birth. Didn't need a blood transfusion - was given fluids as I was already on a drip due to being induced. I did have the syntocinon injection. Felt better after an hour or so and had to take iron tablets and stay in hospital one night. Wouldn't say my birth was exactly good but certainly wasn't that bad - don't know why I lost so much blood I thought it might be the induction drugs.

[TerraNotSoFirma]

I had a fab, easy birth with both of mine but serious bleeding after having DS (my youngest) doctor removed the clots vet style (nice) She said my cervix had failed to close at all. I did have the injection. No interventions or drugs other than gas and air.

I wasn't really listening or caring, too busy loving my boy.

I had quite a bit of blood loss and went to the high dependency unit for a few hours.

[Yika]

Nothing quite as dramatic but I did lose a lot of blood after an excellent birth; I don't know why. I nearly fainted in the shower, was losing massive clots, and couldn't really get out of bed for a couple of days. Still light headed and dizzy on returning home after the (standard in Belgium) 5 days in hospital, and went back to a&e a week after the birth because I was still bleeding so profusely I couldn't leave the house to go for a walk. They gave me a scan and some kind of jab to speed up the healing process. No idea if i had the syntocimon during birth, is that to expel the placenta? Was a bit miffed that although I was in hospital for 5 days I didn't see a doctor once after the birth!!! The midwives consulted with him but he didn't come in. It was the most traumatic part of the birth process.

[WitchOfEndor]

I had a pretty straightforward vb, had the injection but still had a ooh after so they gave me something on a drip to slow it down. I did end up on my knees with my forehead on the floor with the effort of showering! There was a lot of blood coming out in clots but as it was my first birth I had no idea if that was a normal amount or not. The drip was a real pain as its alarm went off everytime I moved my arm so disturbed my sleep all night.

[WitchOfEndor]

*pph not ooh

[Tweetinat]

I too had a severe PPH requiring transfusion after a very easy delivery - 5 hrs from waters breaking to delivery (no injection either). I had a crash team called and it was all very scary. I went back to the hospital to discuss my notes in a 'birth afterthoughts' service and they couldn't give me any explanation other than it could have been due to quick delivery. I'm sorry to hear you had a similar experience, looking back I was very weak for quite a while but at the time I refused to accept how poorly I was.

[Tweetinat]

Oh and many congratulations on your DS

[Midgetm]

I was induced and had a massive PPH and a blood transfusion, and ERPC. I have an over propensity to clot which may be why. Sorry you had such a bad time. Second time round they managed it actively and I was taken into theatre for manual removal of placenta really quickly as this time it would not shift at all. No PPH though.

[StarOfLightMcKings3]

Did they tug the cord?

[Midgetm]

I would describe it as yanking but I didn't see as it was in theatre. Could feel my top half moving so it was fairly vigorous

[StarOfLightMcKings3]

Sorry. My question was to the OP.

If having a physiological 3rd stage then there must be absolutely no tugging.

[MirandaWest]

With DS I had forceps and then a PPH of 1500ml - was sewn up in theatre and had transfusion later that day. Had had injection.

With DD had very straight forward vb - still lost 450ml of blood although dont think that counts as a PPH.

[MB34]

I'm surprised that so many of us have been through this.

It sounds as if having the injection doesn't really affect anything.

Star I can't really remember if they tugged on it or not - would that affect blood loss? Maybe that's something I need to ask when I go see the consultant.

Tweet what else did you ask at your 'birth afterthought' meeting?

[Northernlurker]

Plenty of people will have a PPH after the injection. It's one of the complications of childbirth. In my case it wasn't massive. Estimated at around 800ml but could have been more, could have been less. It's hard to tell. I suspect the loss was worse because it was my third baby - but then lots of people have it with a first baby.

If you are happy with the way your birth was managed OP, I would try not to dwell on why this happened because tbh I don't think you'll ever get a clear answer. Obviously it must have been very scary for you and your partner. You shouldn't feel responsible though. Plenty of people have a birth without the syntocinon and don't bleed. This isn't your fault. It would probably be helpful to have somebody look at your notes and discuss how your third stage was managed but you may need to accept that everything was done ok and you still bled. It can just happen. I hope you are feeling well now. Be sure to get your midwife and GP to be proactive in managing you. Is your haemoglobin ok now?

[Midgetm]

[Cookiesandcoffee]

MB34 reading your post I felt like I was reliving a lot of my experience with DD1 (39wks with DD2)

Simple 6/7hr labour, pushed out no real prob, had a tearbut otherwise good first labour. Placenta did take quite a while to come away even with the injection. Had to walk around and then sat on toilet.
Turns out Lost between 2 & 3 litres and was horrible. Collapsed and they couldn't contract uterus to expel so was taken to theatre. Two blood transfusions later, missed the first day of her life and is still emotional now.
My mum knew one of the head MWs who went through my notes and phoned me to answer any questions I had. Which was lovely of her. Summing up her response was 'sometimes these things happen and there's no reason why'. I felt like I wanted an answer for a long time so I know how you feel. There never was one. Am increasingly nervous with an imminent labour but telling myself there's nothing to say it will happen again.

Anyway sorry to hijack just wanted to share as it makes me feel better to know other people have gone through something similar, as I had never heard of it before and MN is the only way I know anything really about it now

[fatcuntroller]

Yes. I had a straight forward 3 hour labour with no complications or interventions and then pph after. I also went to an appointment to go through my notes and was told it was most likely due to a fast labour and big baby (9lb 6oz).

[Northernlurker]

Cookie I think it's very brave of you to share your upsetting experience. I think that midwife was absolutely right. Educated, informed women go in to labour now with a pretty clear idea of what they want and what the risks are. It gives you an illusion of control - which is sometimes reality - but sometimes things get away from us. You may be able to establish an exact and predictable cause or you may not. Labour and birth is a natural process but that doesn't mean it's necessarily benign. Amazingly simple and amazingly complex.
My blood loss was not severe like some described here but it was still an event that I could not predict or control. Nothing I did made that happen - and scarily, nothing I did could stop it either.

[inadreamworld]

Midgetm - I lost 1250ml - so you lost 250ml more than I did - but I wasn't offered a transfusion (not that I wanted one if could avoid) - does anyone know how much blood you need to lose in order to require a transfusion? I didn't know pph was so common!!

[whatsoever]

I thought a transfusion was offered at 1000 ml normally? My pph was 700ml and I wasnt offered one.

[Fuchzia]

inadream I lost 2.5 Ltrs and didn't have a transfusion. Was told it would depend on my haemglobin (sp?) levels which bounced back quite quickly. I did feel hellish for a long time afterwards though and lost a shed load of weight. Was also told that if I'd appeared more keen on a transfusion they would have offered it to me!

[inadreamworld]

Clearly I have a lot of blood (!!) or they got the amount I lost wrong. Interesting thread though - am due to have baby 2 in about 6 weeks - hope doesn't happen again.

[Ozfrazror]

Inadreamworld - just wanted to say that I had a massive pph after my 2nd DS. My uterus just gave up after a normal birth (was induced though) and I lost 4 litres because it just wouldn't stop even with a transfusion running. Finally it did as they were preparing to do a hysterectomy. However, after all that, I had my 3rd DS 22 months later and it was a great natural birth with no excess bleeding or complications so hopefully you'll be fine. If you are under consultant care they have probably explained how they can start a drip at time of delivery to try to avoid another pph. Good luck.

[inadreamworld]

Hi Oz - don't think I am under consultant care and actually forgot to book next midwife appointment. I will talk to them about ways to avoid pph next time - don't want a hysterectomy!!! Aaaagh. Glad you are OK and your third baby born with no problems.