after a PPH

[Olive]

i had PPH with this birth lost around 1.5 litres of blood and was transfused with two units. i need to have a blood test done to check my iron levels, but when should i have it?? after 1 week or 2???

[Nelle]

I had mine at 6 weeks - are you taking supplements? I had 2 units too.

[Olive]

yep, thought the ones the hospital gave me ae really strong, i feel too strong, dont want to be bound up to my eyeballs!! what did you take??
was soooo glad when the trasnfusion was over with, stings the arm!!

[Nelle]

I took a liquid iron (not as likely to block traffic too), have taken different types, they all worked. LMK if you need/want some because I need to grab some for myself sometime soon.

[Trillian]

I was having a BT every day in hospital (I didn't get a transfusion till day 6 because they wanted to see how I coped without one first - BIG mistake, I should have asked for it a lot sooner) and then after the transfusion I had a BT done at the 6wk check which showed my levels were normal again. All I took was Fefol (folate and iron tablets) each day for a month and made sure I ate loads of leafy greens and red meat etc.

[Alan]

Hi AJP
I would suggest that you wait for 2 weeks providing that you have no symptoms of low iron levels. (Dizzy, Fainting, Short of Breath, Spots/Zig Zags in front of your eyes for more than 15 seconds. Also liquid iron is more expensive but it is absorbed better and it has less chance of causing constipation.

[Olive]

wow day 6 sherie!!! they didnt hesitate to test and transfuse me.
thanks nelle, should be right hun!!
alan i just feel tired, sometimes woozy but overall feeling ok

[Trillian]

I know! You can just imagine how crappy I felt. I look completely washed out in all the pics we have of that first week - my lips didn't even have colour. It's no wonder I never had my milk come in with her.

[Olive]

thats crazy and mean! i too was ghoastly white, white lips, hands and nailbeds where white as!! i felt crap but that was only for around 36 hours not 6 days!! that and very low blood pressure, 84/48!

[Inertia]

Alan is on target, as usual. Ferrous sulphate liquid (tastes like you are chewing on a crowbar) and some nice yummy chewable vit c is what they got me on after my transfusion. I lost almost 3L, but also only got 2 units.

AJP, I got them to warm up the second bag! It was 2am and the first one was freezing my arm.

My blood pressure was too low for them to write it on the chart. They had to draw little dots below it! LOL. Somewhere around 60/20. I was unconscious by then though. Practically willed it I think. "Manual removal of clots" is a kind of horrific violation I would rather never go through again.

[Deejoy17]

I lost over 4 litres of blood and had 8 units of blood, I can`t remember when they asked me to have a BT, I think it might have been 4 - 6 weeks later.

[Nelle]

Dee how did you lose 4 litres of blood and live! Wow!

[Deejoy17]

Nelle - I know scary business, I say over 4 litres of blood I lost as I lost 4 litres on the operating table when undergoing my D & C, they were pumping me with blood and fluids (apparently my ob`s were always fine, you`d wonder how when loosing all that blood) and it was just luck that they managed to save my uterus, I was loosing volumes of blood before I got to the operating table plus clots the size of my fist (sorry for TMI), it was all from neglect from where I birthed Adrian, they sent me home knowing I wasn`t well with a uterus which was diverted over to the right within 2.5 days of getting home I was rushed to emergency in an ambulance as I couldn`t stand up and starting to loose focus, thank goodness they sent me to a different hospital which was more caring and fixed me up saving my uterus, my OB now can`t believe I went through all that and still managed to keep my uterus he said usually they just do a hysterectomy but they knew I wanted it saved so tried stopping the bleeding with a water filled balloon up there which the next day they took 1ml out an hour, that was scary business just touch and go if I started bleeding again but someone was looking after me

Sorry long post, took me a long time to recover physically and mentally.

[Olive]

wow dee thats heaps!!it must have been along recovery for you!!

did any of you also suffer from lack of appetite?? im struggling to eat even 3 meals a day, in hospital i couldnt stop eating but now its a realy struggle

[Inertia]

did any of you also suffer from lack of appetite?? im struggling to eat even 3 meals a day, in hospital i couldnt stop eating but now its a realy struggle

Indeed. Lyta was born on the 17th of Dec, and I got home on the 23rd. There was a huge Xmas Eve party with my family at our place and despite having so much food to pick from, the best I could do is nibble. I had most of my appetite back by my birthday (12th Jan) so it does come back eventually. Its just slow about it.

[Olive]

thanks mags!!
feel im not helping myself get better if i cant eat!

[Nelle]

The other thing I found Jols was that I was drinking lots, guess cos of the breastfeeding (and it's good for your blood pressure too), so I might have filled up on fluids...are you drinking much?