Having My Daughter Almost Killed Me
Everything seemed pretty familiar
My second birth was not too different from the first: I had contractions the day before, got more intense through the night, couldn’t sleep at all, and called my OB/GYN around 1am to tell him how close together my contractions were and asked if I should head to the hospital. I was basically on the same timeline with my first baby, so it was a familiar sequence of events. I felt like I knew what to expect this time around.
Headed to the hospital
My amniotic fluid didn’t break this time and I had no bloody show, but my OB told me to come in anyways. I got to the hospital around 2am. They monitored my contractions for a while and when I didn’t progress they ruptured my amniotic fluid and started me on IV Pitocin. That’s when things started to progress very quickly!
quick and intense labor
Sienna was out at 5:50am. Much faster than my first. The doctor left shortly after, and my partner, Corey, left to change his clothes. My mom and sister were going to come and stay with me, but while everyone was gone I asked the nurses, “is it normal to be bleeding this much?” They investigated and noted there was quite a lot of blood. It seemed like right after, I started to get dizzy and black out.
Note: the average amount of blood loss for a vaginal birth is 500 mL and the average amount of blood loss for a cesarean is 1,000 mL
D&C For Postpartum Hemorrhage
The postpartum team called my OB/GYN back in and he gave me a D&C (dilation & curettage). I had nothing other than Tylenol and I was completely awake for the procedure. I’ve never experienced so much pain in my life! My insides were basically being scrapped out, which was traumatic to say the least. I remember everything about that moment: how many nurses were in the room, where they were, what I was staring at… everything! I listened as they contemplated flying in blood from Puerto Rico, but they later decided it wasn’t needed.
anOTHER D&C
I went home and a couple days passed, but I was still passing very large clots. I could literally feel liquid squishing around in my uterus. My OB/GYN ordered an ultrasound and from that he decided I had to go back in for another D&C. I went under anesthesia this time and stayed overnight in the hospital. I cried so much before the surgery; I had so many postpartum emotions and I was leaking breast milk all over my gown. The nurses were kind enough to make me breast bras with gauze and tape, but I had to dump so much milk. I recovered well after that and didn’t have any hemorrhaging with my third labor.