Thank you to Amy, Dan and Logan for sharing your Positive Birth story to help other expectant couples, particularly those with Placenta Praevia. This birth story is a little scarier to read than others. Remember that Dan and Amy were well prepared for the events they faced. To help you understand I have added some notes after so make sure you read to the end.
‘Afternoon Emily,
I’m sat here in hospital bored so thought I’d write about the birth of our little boy.
So on Saturday 21st July I awoke to a gush of blood so as I do I panicked! I called the labour line and explained I had Placenta Praevia so they told me to go to the Delivery Suite ASAP. I called my dad and he came to take us in.
We arrived and was seen by some lovely midwives and a consultant who examined me and gave me a shot of steroids for baby’s lung development. They said they would keep me in for 24 hours to see how the bleeding went as it appeared to be stopping already.
We were transferred to the antenatal ward where we spent the night, and what an eventful night it was to become!
We slept fairly well until 2am when I went to the loo and realised my pad was absolutely soaked and I passed a lot of large blood clots in the loo. We told the midwife who got the Dr to come immediately. I was examined again and had a cannula put in and some bloods done etc. in case I would need to have an emergency c section then and there.
However they said my cervix was closed and they would continue to monitor me until morning unless something else happened. It was a weekend and they knew my c section would be more complicated so would need a bigger team than usual which was tough in the middle of the night on a Saturday.
We didn’t get much sleep after that as I did continue to bleed but not quite as heavy.
Then at 9am we got the news that we would be delivered in a few hours. D day had arrived at 37 weeks exactly.
We were fairly calm as we knew roughly what would happen from our Talking Babies antenatal classes and were just relieved and excited to meet our little one.
We were looked after amazingly by all the c section team who were talking to us and keeping us calm through the whole process.
As I had Placenta Praevia they ordered some blood for me in case it was needed. I did loose 1.5L of the stuff as they had to cut through the Placenta to get to our little man and they also used forceps to pull him out like Emily had said can be needed occasionally. They didn’t use the blood in the end though as they can now ‘wash’ your own blood and return it to you which they did, 600ml of the stuff. I am now on iron tabs to help as I was slightly anemic.
Our little boy was born at 12.17pm on Sunday 22nd July however he was having difficulty breathing so was whisked off to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Dan was able to visit him while I recovered. He is now still in NICU as he has low blood sugars so they are trying to get to the bottom of why at the moment. We have been able to hold him and I have been expressing and breast fed him twice.
We are so thrilled he is here at last and are also so grateful to Emily for giving such wonderful info during the classes to prepare us and relax us as much as possible for even emergency situations.
Even scary times like this can be positive birth stories 😉
You’re welcome to post this Emily,
Thank you so much Amy, Dan and
Logan xxx
Talking Babies takes a closer look
‘I had placenta praevia’
Placenta Praevia is a condition where the baby’s placenta attaches near to, or over the opening of the uterus. If Placenta Praevia is identified at your 20 week scan further scans will be arranged to see if the placenta moves. If it doesn’t you will see the right professionals who will be able to give you further information.
Placenta Praevia effects around 1:200 pregnancies. Your Midwife will be able to easily tell you where your placenta is by looking at your scan.
If your baby’s Placenta is covering your baby’s ‘exit’ your baby cannot be born vaginally. A placenta can only birth after a baby not before it. Amy and Dan knew this and they were able to prepare for the need to go to hospital if Amy started bleeding and the fact that their birth needed to be a caesarean birth.
Like Amy said ‘even scary times like these can be positive births’ you just need to prepare well for YOUR birth.
Preparing properly for YOUR birth is the most important thing you can do to have a positive birth experience. Attending a course led by a qualified professional will ensure you are prepared to a very high standard and will give you realistic expectations.
I would love to help you on your journey, I have been a Midwife for 18 years now and a hypnobirthing teacher for 6 years. I absolutely love being a Midwife and I can see real value in attending good quality birth preparation classes. If you would like to attend the same course as Amy and Dan here is a link to the next available course. Hope to see you there.
We also run Hypnobirthing Courses Led by a Midwife and Hypnobirthing Teacher here is a link to the next hypnobirthing course:
Are you from Bournemouth, Poole or Bournemouth? Join me on the next Talking Babies Pregnancy Social only £5pp if booked before 30th April. Hope to see you there!
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