This was my first pregnancy and all went smoothly
for the first 13 weeks. Then at 14 weeks I began to
pass what I later heard described as 'large liver-like
clots'. I was of course terrified as my only
expectation was that if you bled in pregnancy you
were about to miscarry. We went into the hospital
for an emergency scan and all was well. Baby was
fine. I was given the choice of staying in hospital or
going home. There was nothing that could be done
to stop the bleeding, so I decided to go home. This
pattern of bleeding continued and we got used to
the routine of passing a big clot (the biggest was
about the size of a fried egg and 15mm thick)
going for a scan and finding baby was fine. The
bleeding fluctuated, but I kept a record of how
much I was bleeding and the size of the clots.
Somehow it gave me sense that I was in control of
what was happening to me. I began to push for
some answers about what was causing the bleeding
and my doctor arranged for a appointment with a
consultant after my routine scan at 21+3. At this
scan we were relieved to hear that our baby was
developing fine and was not being affected by the
bleeding, but the scan also showed that there was
no water in the membrane. I had not felt any rush
of water, so presuably it had leaked out gradually
with the blood. We went straight to see the
consultant and he explained the possible outcomes
to us. He gave us a 20% chance that the membrane
would reseal and the waters would build up again.
We were to return in a week for another scan. So
we went home. I spent as much time as possible
during that week lying still with my hands on my
bump, thinking about our baby swimming in loads
of water. I supppose it enabled me to think I was
doing something positive, rather than just waiting.
At our scan the next week, the worst happened.
The consultant could find no heart beat. Anyone
who has been through this will know that you
clutch as straws, anything. Has there been a
mistake? No mistake. Our baby had died. We
arranged to come back to the hospital in two days
to be induced, but nature took it's own course and
our little boy, Douglas, was still born the next day.
The delivery was rather traumatic, as I didn't know
what to expect and the paramedic only just arrived
in time for me to deliver the placenta. I delivered
our baby into a wahing up bowl on the kitchen
floor. Although it was terrifying at the time, in a a
way I'm glad I didn't have to spend too long on the
delivery ward. We had a post-mortem carried out
and the chain of events seems to have been that
the prostoglandin in the blood thinned the
membrane. I then got an infection. Either the
membrane tore because it was so thin, and then the
infection got in, or the infection finished off the job
started by the blood. It was the infection that
caused Douglas' death. Next time round, I'll have
extra scans to check where the placenta is forming
(it formed too low and this is what caused the
bleeding before) and I'll get checked for infection at
16wks. If only ths would guarantee everything
would be fine....
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