Excess Bleeding After Delivery

Pauline Chola’s Experience

Her tenth wedding anniversary was on the eve of her scheduled Caesarean operation to deliver her fourth baby. But as events unfolded, Pauline Chola developed bleeding complications. She narrated her ordeal to Pregnant Magazine.

We had our tenth wedding anniversary dinner on the eve of the Caesarean operation. I was supposed to report to the hospital at 6.00 p.m. but I arrived at 10 p.m. because my husband and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary. On arrival at the hospital I was dressed up and prepared for surgery. My husband left so that he could be with me in the morning during the surgery.

I was tired and hungry

Surgery was delayed because there were other people in theatre so I was rescheduled for midday. I was tired and hungry because I had not eaten anything the whole day. While waiting for my turn to go to theatre the anaesthetist came and explained why I was not allowed to eat anything before surgery. I told him I was feeling dizzy and I was put on a glucose drip, which made me feel a little better.

My husband was in theatre with me

I had braided my hair and then grouped the braids into two big cornrows. The nurse undid these cornrows because they would not allow me lie down on my back. I had removed the nail polish and was eagerly waiting my turn to deliver my baby. My husband and I had agreed that I would go for local anaesthesia as it carries fewer risks than general anaesthesia.

All through the surgery I didn’t feel a thing. My husband was in theatre with me and saw the entire process. Later he told me that when they opened me up he saw the baby’s hair and knew they were working in the uterus.

Blood is coming out like a tap

After surgery I was wheeled to the recovery room to wait for the effects of the anaesthesia to wear off. While in the recovery room I developed a strange itching all over the body. Because I couldn’t take anything orally, I was given an injection to stop the itching.

The nurses changed my clothes and bed sheets because they were wet with blood. After a short while, I began feeling wet again and asked my husband to pass me the sanitary pads to change. When he uncovered me he found that the bed was soaked in blood. ‘Blood is coming out like a tap,’ he said.

‘This is not good,’ my husband commented and quickly called the nurse who came in and immediately started massaging my belly. She said the uterus had not contracted well. The more she pressed my belly the more the blood poured out.

By this time my vision was getting blurred

The sheets were changed four times! By this time my vision was getting blurred and I could not even see my husband well and my blood pressure was low. I was scared. The nurse massaging my belly became frantic and called her colleague who alerted the doctors.

It was an emergency

When the doctors came, they explained quickly that it was an emergency and I had to be rushed back to theatre. There was talk of blood transfusion since I was losing blood in pints. I was told that instead of my uterus shrinking it was enlarging.

One of the doctors took over from the nurse. He pulled a sit, sat down and began massaging my tummy. All this time I was on a drug to contract the uterus but it was not working. I was given a stronger injection and now started feeling the contractions. And the bleeding stopped. Things started slowly creeping back to normal. It was 10.30 pm, and I had come from theatre at around half past noon!

I didn’t get to see my baby that day

The whole night nurses and doctors constantly checked on me. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see my baby that day, because of my condition. I had a catheter to relieve my bladder to stop it exerting pressure on the uterus and cause further bleeding.

I was on medication to relieve me of pain. The problem was when the drugs wore out I would be in such intense pain that I would break out in a sweat.

I would have needed blood transfusion

Recovery took longer than expected. My blood count dropped and my doctor told me that I was lucky because had it gone lower I would have needed blood transfusion.

I suffered oedema which lasted for a few days after delivery and I was told it was because I didn’t have sufficient blood in my system. I was placed under several medications which I continued using after discharge from hospital.

All turned out well after that, thank God!

END: PG 06/44-45