i had a really long, painful, horrible labor and birth...as most women do. I went a week over with my little girl, it was the worst week of my life.. i was in so much pain and didnt sleep a wink in the whole week! i hated night times, and the hospital just kept sending me home and telling me to have a bath! it WASNT helping!
on the thursday they finally kept me in and started me on gas and air, that calmed me down, i dont remember much else after this but apparently my partner told me i had all the pain relief they could possibly give me and i was still in pain. In the end baby turned so she was back to back with me but her head got stuck in my pelvis so i had to have an emergency c section on the friday morning, and my beautful baby girl was born at 7.41 am, but then i started to go down hill, i was taken into surgery again that morning as they couldnt stop the bleeding, they started by inserting a 'Balloon' this didnt work, i had to go back in again and had to have a hysterectomy
, they told me that i had an infection in my uterus and it wasnt contracting to push baby out or to clot the blood and stop the bleeding, after this i was ok for a while but that night started bleeding heavily again, so off i went again and had to have my stomach and vagina packed full. i was taken to intensive care and spent the weekend there, on the monday i was in surgery again and had the packs taken out, so in total my c section scar was opened 5 times in one weekend. but i seemed on the mend. i was moved back to the maternity ward on the tuesday. but by the wednesday i was throwing up every where and cudnt stop, i was taken for CT scans and had to have a tube inserted down my nose and into my stomach to stop me throwing up. aparently as a result of the c section causing my bowls to stop moving and the many surgeries i had to have i had developed a 'collection' in my stomach ..basically an infection that caused me to be sick, i spent another 2 weeks on intensive care. i slowly made a recovery and was allowed home 3 weeks after the birth of my baby girl! i was so happy!
But then after 5 weeks of being home i started to struggle to breathe, i cudn't even pick my shoes up with out coughing my guts up and not being able to breathe i was so upset not being able to look after my baby! the doctors told me it was my asthma and put me on steroids to try and reduce the swelling of my lungs. i had to go to A+E twice and they just put me on nebulisers and sent me home, until i went the second time (the day after) and they did lots of tests and kept me in on MAU ward, a nurse put me on a fluid drip and left me to it, but that made me ten times worst! i coughed all night, didnt sleep and started to cough up pink frothy liquid, i was petrified! again i was rushed to intensive care and more tests and scans were carried out, in the end i was diagnosed with postpartum cardiomyopathy...heart failure.
My Details
- Date Diagnosed: 01/12/2011
- Child: 1
- Initial EF: 5%
- Current EF: 40-45%
Story By Jenny Buckley
