After Hannah was born, and taken to the nursery, it was time to for me to deliver the placenta. The midwife told me that I didn’t have to be afraid, because the placenta has no bones. I really wasn’t worried about this part anyway, because all I’d heard was that it was easy. An afterthought, really. Some people even say that they didn’t realize they delivered it, because they were too busy with their new baby.
They asked me if I was having any contractions. I couldn’t feel any, and told them so. They said that when I felt a contraction, that I should push. I tried pushing anyways, but not much happened.
I have no idea how much time passed, but people started getting worried. Nothing was happening. The student midwife said that the placenta should have delivered by now. People started massaging my stomach, and investigating the cord. They gave me an injection of oxytocin in my leg.
This seemed not to work, so then they tried ergot. The obstetrician came in, and a whole bunch of nurses. They set up an IV with more oxytocin. At some point, I felt some contractions, and gave a push. It felt like it was working, but I think the placenta only came part-way out.
After some time, and some serious discomfort, the rest of the placenta came out. However, it wasn’t really in one piece–it had holes in it, and tears, they said from the ergot and all the massaging and tugging. So, they couldn’t really tell if the whole thing had come out or not. Also, I gather that I kept bleeding. They gave me another injection in my leg.
At this point, they wouldn’t let me eat or drink. The bleeding slowed somewhat, but not enough. They told me that if it didn’t stop, I might need surgery. I asked them if they would have to cut through my stomach muscles, and they said no, I would just need a D&C, which is where they clean out the uterus. No cutting, but it would hurt too much if they didn’t give me anesthesia.
Eventually, Jon came back, and my bleeding appeared to slow. I was having some seriously uncomfortable contractions, but they let me have a little bit of food and water. Then the midwife wheeled me to the special care nursery, to see Hannah. I couldn’t sit up, but I could see her there in her incubator, so small but so strong. At this point, the midwife left, and told me she didn’t want to have to come back. 
Unfortunately, the bleeding still didn’t stop. The contractions were caused by more blood passing, and at about 7 or so the obstetrician came in and told me that he would do the surgery, probably in a couple of hours. I felt really tired, and I decided that this would be OK. I should be out of surgery by 10, then I could sleep, and be ready to visit my baby in the morning.
Of course, things never go as planned. I didn’t get in to surgery until after 1 in the morning. In the meantime, I was moved out of my delivery room, because they needed the space. They made me sign a consent for a blood transfusion, because my iron was already sort of borderline. The anesthesiologist, when he came in, said that I had lost close to half of my blood volume. I don’t think that either Jon or I had realized how severe the bleeding was, so this scared us.
The surgery, when it finally happened, went smoothly. I was out of the operating room and into recovery at 2:15, where they took my hemoglobin. Apparently, it was at 60. The anesthesiologist and obstetrician had agreed to transfuse me if it was below 60, so there was some discussion. I wanted the blood, because I felt so bad. They decided, in the end, to give me two units in the recovery room.
I immediately started to feel better after that. Jon came to see me, and then I rested, while I got the blood. I didn’t get up to my room until about 4:00am, and then I managed to sleep for a bit.
During my birth experience, I got a lot of curve balls thrown at me. Beforehand, I was worried about my labour, going overdue, and being in the hospital in general. Of course, none of those ended up being issues. I guess that life is all about the unexpected, and how we handle it. I’m still trying to absorb the whole thing.
I am coming to grips with the fact that my baby came early, and that I suffered some pretty major complications. I have learned that I need to be grateful for what I have–a beautiful little girl, and a great husband, and access to excellent medical care that saw us all through with flying colours. So many people don’t have those things, and it behooves me to remember that.
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