Day 9: Heavy Bleeder

The only complication during my pregnancy and childbirth with Douwe came after the birth, so I didn’t take it very seriously at the time. The morning sun was shining, the baby was out of me and handsome and healthy, I was calmly lying in the hospital bed with my pelvis bones intact, so everything was perfect!

My midwife was not as euphoric. She was very concerned because my uterus was not shrinking back down and cutting off its own blood flow like it should after the placenta is delivered. She would come in every once in a while or send in a nurse to firmly knead my abdomen, ouch!, to force out any plum size clots that were getting in the way. I blacked out when I tried to stand up to use the bathroom, so she said she would have to insert a catheter, in case my full bladder was interfering with my uterus somehow. I remember asking her if she really needed to do that because it sounded like it would hurt. She got a little snappy then, and I realized that she was very concerned about the amount of blood I had lost. She said if my flow did not stop soon she would have to reach in my uterus and check for clots manually, which would be way more uncomfortable than a catheter. I said ok I’ll take the catheter. And no it didn’t hurt that bad. A few hours later they asked me to try to stand again, and I blacked out again. But eventually my uterus did what it was supposed to, and by evening I was able to walk around.

So if I bear another child, my midwife told me, I’ll have to have a shot of oxytocin right away after the birth to strengthen the uterine contractions, because I’m a heavy bleeder.