When mum-of-three Jessica Hood was set to have her fourth child, she decided she wanted to live-stream the whole thing.
The 31-year-old, who documents motherhood on her Instagram page, wanted to open up about the fragility of mental health while pregnant.
But disastrously, the labour went all wrong for the mum from Western Victoria, Australia, as she found out she had placenta accreta – a serious condition that occurs when the placenta grows too deeply into the uterine wall.
In a normal pregnancy, the body pushes out the placenta in its own time.
For Jessica, the placenta being ‘stuck’ meant she lost three litres of blood and had to be operated on.
During the chaos of it all, she was told she’d need a hysterectomy – she immediately signed the papers consenting.
‘I had three beautiful children waiting at home too. I was needed,’ she told Metro.co.uk.
Thankfully, Jessica didn’t end up needing the hysterectomy, but she’s still recovering from the surgery and is ‘traumatised’ from the incident.
‘I gave birth to baby Harrison standing up at 3.26 pm with his cord tangled around his body, with his arm beside his head (how he came out… ouch!),’ she explained.
‘Alert but shocked, there was no cry. I remember asking if he was alright over and over.
‘I remember looking down and noticing the midwives struggling to get my placenta to come out. I don’t exactly remember what they were saying but the first indication something was wrong was when they lifted a plastic sheet up full of blood and took it over to the scales to be weighed.
She continued: ‘I heard the nurse turn to the other nurse and say “600” and with my placenta still attached inside me the emergency button was pushed and a team of nurses, midwives, surgeons and doctors raced into the room.
‘This couldn’t be happening. I remember feeling cold, I remember asking my partner Karl if I was going to die multiple times.
‘I remember them taking Harrison away from me. It seemed like I was laying there forever with the team of medical staff working on me.
‘I felt like with every minute passing I was closer to death. My anxiety was out of control. I was living my worst nightmare. I was gonna die giving birth and leave my children, my new baby, my husband.’
Three hours later, Jessica came to, having been operated on.
A midwife held her hand and told Jessica she’d suffered a severe primary postpartum hemorrhage – when you lose more than 500ml or 1,000ml of blood within the first 24 hours following childbirth.
She had lost three litres of blood, her placenta had become stuck and was manually removed. She somehow managed to avoid a hysterectomy.
When she was finally wheeled in to meet her beautiful new baby, she was overwhelmed.
‘Karl and I looked at each other and both broke down,’ says Jessica. ‘While I was going through all this Karl had to stand there and watch it all unfold. Feeling helpless. Not knowing what was gonna happen.’
Jessica is speaking up to raise awareness of birth trauma, which affects five in 100 women. A year on from giving birth, Jessica is still struggling with PTSD.
‘My son is about to turn one and I’m experiencing high levels of anxiety,’ she said.
‘At the time it was a lot to process, the initial reaction was shock followed by sadness and disbelief.
‘The recovery process was long. I received blood transfusions and prior to suffering PPH I had low iron. Mentally the recovery is still ongoing. Some days are fine and other days I still can’t process everything.
‘I still struggle to process what happened but I am so very thankful I am here.’
Source: Read Full Article