As I creep up on 6 months post pardem I have started to do some reading on blood disorders and post pardem hemorrhage (PPH). I had a PPH soon after Annabelle was delivered. My uterus had trouble clamping down and I lost 1 liter of blood, which is about 1/4 to 1/7 of my total blood supply at the time. This very much scared my midwife and the OB on call was brought in to help control the bleeding. I had my baby in my arms so I didn't understand the gravity of the situation. Eventually the uterus clamped, after they administered many drugs and did other things that I would rather not mention. I was very weak for several hours afterwards, needed lots of IV fluids and was iron deficient for awhile, but all in all I bounced back quickly.
My midwife, Jessica would like for me to see a hematologist at 6 months post delivery to make sure that I don't have a bleeding disorder. I seem to bleed very easily. When I used to give blood, I could give a pint in under 3 minutes, and when I was getting prepped for my IV while in labor, I "blew up" and spurted blood everywhere (so they say, I wasn't going to look). So there are some signs that my body has trouble shutting off my blood flow. My gut tells me that there is something wrong.
Doing research on PPH has really depressed me. Many of the women out there who have had a PPH are very scared to have more children. Fear and childbirth are two things that I don't think go together well. The risk of having a PPH with subsequent children is increased if you have had it with the first. This may transfer me into a higher risk category, which means I wouldn't be able to deliver at Fitzsimmons again, and wouldn't be able to have my midwives. I don't feel good about this at all and I am pretty saddened. So, I will start the laborious process of searching for a good hematologist and will set up an appointment soon.
After reading others stories I am lucky that I had such a competent midwife. If a PPH is not controlled quickly enough, things can go downhill fast and can become life threatening. Often times they must perform an emergency hysterectomy, so I feel lucky that they were able to get my bleeding under control without any long term consequences.