Sarah's Story - Accreta in a first risk free pregnancy.

38 Weeks

My partner (now my husband) and I were very surprised and yet excited to find out that we were pregnant with our son Henry. We were not planning to become parents yet, but we were thrilled nonetheless! I had such an easy start to my pregnancy that I didn’t realize I was pregnant until I was 10 weeks along! I had an incredibly easy pregnancy, and my partner and I even travelled to England when I was 33 weeks pregnant (returned at 36 weeks) to visit his family over Christmas 2011.  As things were going so well, we were very excited to deliver our son at home along with our midwife Erin. I was confident that Henry’s birth was going to be a very peaceful and beautiful experience.

At 38 weeks pregnant, I began to have some incredibly difficult pains. I was reassured that these pains were normal in the later weeks of pregnancy, but I was surprised by how awful I felt. I was cramping a lot, and felt nauseous most of the time. At 39 weeks exactly (Feb 14^th), I begged my midwife to do a stretch and sweep (S&S) to encourage labour to begin. I was ready to “get this baby out”! As soon as the S&S was done, I began to feel the beginnings of what would be labour.  My midwife was concerned about my Fundal (uterus) height during this visit, so she actually sent me to get an ultrasound. Everything came back normal, including the placenta, so I was sent home and continued to labour at home. Things were progressing well, and by 9pm my midwife arrived. As the pains began to get increasingly worse with no real progression, my midwife suggested that we make the difficult trek to the hospital. It was 3am and I felt defeated and was devastated, but was in no mood to argue. We began to pack a hospital bag in between my contractions, which I now realize should have already been packed just in case!

We arrived at the hospital, and I laboured relatively well for another 3.5 hours. I wanted to have our son naturally, and after pushing for 3 hours, Henry James Machin was born at 10:35am on Feb 15^th, 2012. He was born unconscious & was revived by the pediatric nurses after a few tense minutes! My mother, my partner and my very good friend were all present for his birth.

We had decided on active management of the third stage, so I was given a shot of synthetic oxytocin after the delivery of my son, to assist with the removal of the placenta. My midwives waited for about 45 minutes for the placenta to deliver. During this time, the midwives noticed that I was loosing a little more blood than normal, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from. One midwife tried to traction the umbilical cord gently, but this seemed to increase the bleeding. They encouraged me to squat on the bed and try to push out the placenta, but an incredible gush of blood came out. The midwives called for an immediate transfer to an Obstetrical team. Two residents and the Head of Obstetrics were on call. I was then given a shot of Nitril (to relax the uterus) and Demerol (for pain relief…not so much!), before both residents and the Head of OB attempted 3 failed manual removals of the placenta. That was the worst pain of my life. I had lost so much blood by this point that I began to pass out. My midwife tried to engage me in conversation, but it was almost as if I had forgotten how to speak. I also have been told that I was as white as a sheet, and the decision was made to rush me into the OR for an emergency removal of my placenta. I had started to go into hemorrhagic shock, and could not stop shaking. I remember my mother running beside the gurney, and I remember saying to her “If I die, please take care of Henry”. These words still bring tears to my eyes when I think of them. My blood pressure was called out at 58/30, which is dangerously low. The last thing I remember in the OR is how tingly my arm felt when they started my first emergency blood transfusion. I was later told that the Anesthesiologist needed to administer norepinephrine, in order to regulate my heart pressure as I had severe hypotension (low blood pressure).

Recovery Suite

I woke up in the recovery room, I believe around 4:30pm. I had been in surgery for about 4 hours. I had been intubated during my surgery and my throat was painfully dry. I could not sit up, as I would begin to pass out, so I remained flat on my back for a few hours. This was the first time I was able to spend any time with my son. He was laid beside me in the hospital bed. At around 10:30pm, my vitals were stable enough that I could be moved to a regular maternity room.

Maternity Ward.

Over the next few days, I was monitored for my blood pressure, hemoglobin levels and temperature to make sure that I had no infections. I received 4 units of blood all together. Two units during my surgery and another two units in the days following as I recovered. I will forever be grateful to those four people who donated blood in order to save my life. I have been told that I lost approximately 2.5-3 litres of blood during the hemorrhage. I had an undiagnosed Placenta Accreta, and I am proud to say that I am a survivor!