After a really smooth pregnancy with just the usual nausea and fatigue at the start I was so ready for my little one to arrive.
3 days before my due date and I was feeling absolutely nothing, adamant I was going to go overdue and be induced. I’d gone to sleep for an hour that night when I woke up in a pool of water, I woke my parter and phoned the hospital maternity unit and they advised that we come in.
On the short journey in I started to feel contractions and felt like they were coming quickly and intensely for early labour. When we arrived and I was examined to see if my waters had actually broke, what felt like a pool still came out but from the colour of it I could tell instantly the midwives were concerned.
A doctor then came for further examination and when he checked there was another pool but of red. I remember him saying “we need to go”, an alarm being pressed and so many people rushing into the room. This was obviously very scary, but even though at that point I had no idea what was going on, I knew I had to trust these people and had to be a different kind of brave - not for labour but for unknown surgery.
My gorgeous baby boy delivered by emergency c-section exactly 2 hours from waking up in waters. I had to be put under full general anaesthetic but do not feel deprived of witnessing his birth as the risk was clearly out-weighted.
Unfortunately my blood loss was continuing, what I’d suffered was a placenta abruption, I’m no doctor but I believe this is a rare occurrence and the placenta come away from my blood vessels and an artery (a transfusion of 6 units was made over the coming hours). More emergency surgery was required to stop the internal bleed, again all I could do was trust the medical staff and I did. Initially this part began under epidural but ended up being another full general anaesthetic as became complicated and I struggled to manage under just the epidural.
I met my son roughly 12 hours after his birth, while recovering in Intensive Care. I felt like I felt the same rush of love, connection and emotion despite this and is a moment I’ll cherish and remember forever. He was absolutely perfect, which made everything that happened completely worth it and less traumatic.
I can honestly say throughout my stay in the hospital afterwords and what happened at his birth and every single midwife, doctor, surgeon and nurse that I was in the care of was absolutely fantastic - I owe them everything, no harm ever came to my baby and nearly 8 weeks later (now) I’m really feeling like myself again. And ultimately, despite a placenta abruption being an awful and potentially life threatening thing to happen it happened while I was in the right place at the right time, I keep telling myself this.
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