Well ladies this is my birth story...

My day began on the 18th of June, i awoke to my waters breaking. I did the normal things, called the hosptial, had a shower, and went in. It was all confirmed, and i was hospitalised. I had a doctor approach me and requested for me to join a trial Australia wide, which was basically a paper in the hat, induction within 24 hours or prolonging the pregnancy with anti biotics and medications. I refused to join the trial as i had pretty well been through it with my DS and i was held off for 10 days resulting in my DS being unwell at birth and for several weeks afterwards. I requested induction, and on the 20th of June the dr came to me and asked me if i wanted my child to be born that day. Of course i said yes, so within 1/2 an hour i was transferred to the Delivery suite.

I was already 4cm dilated (so really it was only probably a matter of a day anyway). Induction began at 12.00pm. Labour was as normal as normal is. At 3pm labour was in full swing so the labour drug was switched off, and labour stopped. It was reintroduced and again labour commenced quickly and heavily. I had decided not to use any pain relief except for gas until labour was in full swing, but because it did come quickly it was decided against using anything by the midwife (as by the time i decided it was too late).

As i was fully dilated, but had no urges to "push", the midwife told me that for the safety of the baby, i had to even though there was no urge (understandable) . She was pulling me from side to side (not the easiest way when your back is in spasms) The birthing was normal, and Kaden was born at 5.36pm. I should probably mention here, that this was the midwifes first ever delivery.

Obviously the next step was the delivery of the placenta. By this time there was a second midwife in the room and a pediatrician. They began to pull out the placenta, but did not know that i had accreta (neither did i at that time). It felt like they were pulling out my uterus, the pain was so bad, they couldnt get it out, and were yanking and pulling and pushing. They restarted the induction drug to contract my uterus, and to try to expel the placenta. And also used futher contracting tablets, they managed to get an amount of the placenta out, and then must have realised that it was stuck well and truely. They then decided to use instruments to remove the remaining placenta, by this time i was haemmoraging, and they thought that it was from a tear so were trying to clean up blood that was coming out heavily. I had one shoving in swabs of stuff to try to stop the bleeding. Everytime they stopped, it just splurted everywhere. The midwifes were going in and out of the room for what seemed like about 1/2 an hour at a time. I just kept thinking i was going to die.

I just got to a point where i couldnt stop shaking and even though i had heated blankets on could not warm up.

I had already pre warned my birth partners about the risks of accreta and haemmorage and i am now glad i did. I also asked Tracy to photograph the placenta. My birth partners (my sister and my friend) both kept an eye on what was going on down there, as by this time i was totally unable to move even in the slightest. All of this continued for over 5 hours when they decided i needed surgery.

The surgeon came in and told me that she was going to dilate and use her hand to manually evacuate the uterus. It took over 20 minutes for me to be able to get onto the bed that was taking me to surgery (yes i had to get onto it without help).

When i got into the theatre, they kept telling me to keep my eyes open and were tapping my throat, which was really really weird. Next thing i know i was waking up and the surgeon was in front of me telling and showing me with her hands that she had taken out a heap of blood clots (i figure that is normal anyway?) and showed me with her hands a circle the size of a tennis ball as how much placenta she removed. She said she had to pick it away, but had also left some in as she was unable to remove it.

The next day she reaffirmed what she did when she came into the ward to see me to remind me of what had happened. She also told me i lost a litre of blood during delivery and a further 800ml in theatre, but i was lucky as my iron count was reasonable?

The next day, as i was being discharged, i mentioned the retained placenta to the dr (a different one), and whether or not an ultrasound would be a wise choice to confirm how much was indeed left behind. He then told me there was nothing left behind as it had not been put on the paperwork. He also told me i lost 1.5liters in delivery, not including theatre. As you can imagine it totally contradicted what i had been told by the surgeon, and suddenly it became a huge issue, i guess because i had questioned a colleague. We at the time were waiting on results as to know whether or not i needed a transfusion. (I didnt).

I really cannot fault the hospital on Kadens care, not in the slightest, they were brilliant, but considering they knew my health issues with the Ashermans and the risks involved, i believe they could have been more proactive especially since it wasnt spontaneous labour. I probably should have been more demanding in my care.

I have since been to my local GP, who did organise an ultrasound and it was found to be that i have a great deal of retained products, but we are taking a wait and see approach on it.

Ultimately, i have my little boy, and i am still here to tell the story.

Belinda T (Melb, AUS)