April 29, 2025 • 39 mins
This episode of Diary of a Birth contains graphic descriptions including blood loss and traumatic injury. Please proceed with caution. Additional resources can be found in the show notes.
A pop. A gush. And suddenly, a huge amount of blood running down her legs. What started as a peaceful first day of maternity leave became a fight for two lives when Sabrina Banayad experienced a rare and life-threatening placental abruption.
Sabrina shares the story of her second birth, that ended in a code green emergency cesarean. With extraordinary presence of mind, she called emergency services while home alone, calmly organising childcare and preparing for paramedics even as she continued to haemorrhage.
This powerful story is about maternal instinct, quick thinking, and the medical miracle that allowed both mother and daughter to thrive after one of the most dangerous birth complications possible.
Resources:
PANDA Birth Trauma And Recovery
Diary Of A Birth features mums telling their miraculous stories of bringing life into the world. If you’d like to share your birth story, we’d love to hear from you at podcast@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice note here.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
You're listening to a Mumma Mia podcast. Mamma Mia acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on. We pay our respects to elders past,
present and emerging, and feel privileged to continue the sharing
of birth stories and knowledge that has been a fundamental
part of Indigenous culture. This episode of Diary of a
(00:42):
Birth contains graphic descriptions, including blood loss and traumatic injury.
Please proceed with caution. Additional resources can be found in
the show notes. Hi, I'm Cassenya Lukitch and this is
Diary of a Birth.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Here in Australia.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We're fortunate enough to have access to excellent healthcare, but
pregnancy and birth can still be incredibly dangerous and complications
can and do happen. Today's episode is not here to
scare you, but to arm you with information, to tell
a story of a mum who faced an incredibly rare
complication known as a placental abruption.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
So I was laying in bed and I felt a
pot in my uterus. I could hear and feel it
as I pulled my underwear down. The blood ran down
my legs and spilled out over onto the floor.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
As I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I'll leave the medical explanations to doctor Brolin Devine later
on in the episode. But it can be fatal to
both mother and baby. Today's mom exhibited incredible bravery and
with luck, good timing, and a fast acting medical team,
both her and her Bob are healthy and thriving.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So let's meet today's mom.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Hi, I'm Sabrina and this is a diary of my
birth with Sienna.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Sabrina, your story came through and you wrote this beautiful,
beautiful email and it really sort of struck a chord
because it was a really traumatic and challenging birth for you. Yes,
you already had one baby, Kingston. That's right, so this
(02:35):
was your second birth. So I feel like sometimes we
get to our second birth and we go, yep, I
know what I'm doing. But how did you feel when
you fell pregnant with Siena.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
I was really excited.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It was a lot shorter process than the first time
round because I feel like I had a bit more
understanding of my body and how to go about falling pregnant,
and so I thought, I know what I'm doing with
the pregnancy. I know what to expect and from what
you hear from everybody. Labor ideally is same, same bit shorter.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
That was the hope.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Anyway, How old was Kingston when you fell pregnant with Sienna?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I think it was about two years old, give or
take either side a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Emmanuel, who is your partner? You're excited, You've got your
first trimester, everything's going well. How are you feeling during
this time?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
I was feeling really great.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Obviously noticing a big difference between my first and my
second pregnancy. I had a toddler to keep up with.
I was a lot more tired. So with my first
pregnancy I was extremely active, and my second pregnancy I
was really struggling to fit in conventional exercise, but I
probably was running around a lot, so that was probably
(03:47):
the biggest difference. But otherwise, very lucky to have very regular,
unexciting pregnancies.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So with your first baby, you went into spontaneous labor.
As I understand it, you were seven hours, you had gas.
It was pretty straightforward. So in your head you're.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Imagining that same sort of situation again exactly. My fear
was when do I leave home to get to the hospital,
Knowing that the active part of labor would likely be shorter,
and because I had, you know, a relatively short labor
the first time for a first time mum, I didn't
push for very long.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
My question was more, you.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Know, how can I have that at home birth experience
but still make it to the hospital in time for
the grand finale?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
What kind of system were you in? Were you in
the public system? Private system? How was your birth supported?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
So I was in the public system.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I was seeing obstetricians a whole way through though, because
I have problems with my thyroids, so they were keeping
an eye on that the whole way. That, however, didn't
put me into any sort of high risk territory. It
was just more keeping a second set of eyes on
my pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So you get through your second trimester, the trimester, can
you talk us through a little bit about the last
few weeks before you going into labor? How are you feeling?
Speaker 4 (05:11):
I feel like big question.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I was not feeling amazing. I felt like my body
was getting bigger rapidly this time around, and due to
my muscles being a little bit.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
More lax, I worked a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Later in my second pregnancy, so I worked all the
way up until thirty eight weeks, thinking that I would
try to extend my maternity leave a little bit longer
and work from home a bit more, And I was
honestly feeling quite stressed with the idea of finishing up work,
handing over things that were happening. I was on a
(05:46):
contract at work that was finishing up in the next
two months, and I didn't have a clear outcome of
whether my job would be extended at that point. So
I think in my pregnancy I felt really good, but
just life and its entirety was a lot at that point,
so I hadn't put a lot of focus onto.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Birthing like I had in my first pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
In terms of your support system with you know, your husband, emmanual, family,
how was that around you?
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Fantastic.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I'm really lucky to have my husband, and then I
have a sister who who also has children the same
age as me, and my mother is also very involved
in my family life. So I've got a great little
network around me.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Okay, So let's get up to the day of a guess,
going into labor. If that's what can you call it?
What was your day like in the morning?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So I had had those period like cramps the night
before and that night, and I'd woken up and it
was still the same, so that lower kind of backache
that you have just before you get your period, and
I thought, oh, I remember this feeling. I remember that sensation.
Is something coming. And I said to my husband, it's fine,
(07:00):
go to work. We don't live far away from the hospital.
He doesn't work far away from me. And I was
quite confident in the way that I had birthed previously,
that if I was to go into labor, that he
would have time to come home, and that I was
comfortable resting and being active and just being around the
(07:21):
house in those early hours. So I was very comfortable
in saying, a man, head off to work, and I'll
give you a call if I need you. But I
feel confident that if I'm going to go into labor,
it will probably be tonight, you know, when I'm comfortable
and I'm sleepy, I'll wake up.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
And things will progress. And where was Kingston at this point.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
He was in childcare, which was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So that was actually my first day of maternity leave too,
so I just thought, I'll go for a walk. I
vividly remember cooking spinach and ricotta rolls and thinking I
can put some in the fridge, I can pop some
in the freezer. We've got some you know, storage there.
And then I thought to myself, well, who knows how
(08:08):
long the night could potentially be and if there will
be any sleep, So I will try my best to
lay in bed and watch a movie at the minimum.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Which is very well deserved. We don't need to explain
that firstday of maternity leave husbands at work above number one,
Kixton is at daycare. You've got some time to kind
of recuperate. So you're trying to recuperate, prepare yourself for
what's to come. So you're having a rest in bed
and tell us what happens next.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
So I was laying in bed and I felt a
pop in my uterus and I cannot tell you to
this day whether it was an audible pop, but to me,
it felt very audible.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I could hear and feel it, and.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I thought, oh, that's that was really funny. It was
almost like when you click a muscle or something. Something's
quite obviously happened. And I had enough time to pull
out my phone and google pregnant uterus pop. And whilst
I was googling, I felt a gush between my thighs,
and with my first pregnancy, my waters did not break spontaneously.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
That was done in the hospital all and so I.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Thought, oh, this must be my waters, this must be
what it feels like.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
And I was very well prepared.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I had dark charcoal sheets on the bed in case,
you know, anything was to happen over the next couple
of days, and avoiding stains.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
So I had to flip my legs.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Over to the side of the bed and I pulled
down my underwear to how to look at the waters
and see if there was anything in them.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
And as I pulled my.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Underwear down, blood ran down my legs and spilled out
over onto the floor.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
You get up and you see all of this blood,
which I imagine would be quite terrifying for you.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
What was your first thought.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
That it's not normal. It was bright red, so it
wasn't old blood. It was fresh, and it was continuous.
So the first thing I did was I picked up
my phone and I called the ambulance straight away. I
was in the exact same spot that I had when
I flicked my legs over the bed. I hadn't stood up.
I just grabbed my phone and straight away called Triple.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
Zero emergency services. Tell me exactly what happened. I'm thirty
eight and a half weeks pregnant.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I started popping in my uterrifs and I did add
a huge gush of blood and it's not stopping.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
All right, let's get you that help right away. Do
you have anybody there with you at the moment? No,
I'm home alone. Okay. Now can you see I feel
all touch any part of the baby now, No, my
vagina feels closed still. Okay? Are you having contractions? I
have had very dull period, pain.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
White, contraction last nam last night.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
More black and yeah, okay there's more blood. Yeah, understood.
I'm keeping them updated. Okay, now you just try and rest. Okay,
So do not sit on the toilet and Justine faces
is the baby coming? Do not try to prevent the
burse all right. I assume the most comfortable position here
and take deep breaths between contractions. And it's going to
(11:21):
put a exposable underwear on. Good idea. But there's a
blood still coming out there. Yeah, okay, how are you
feeling now? Any changes?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
No, no change here, it's more I'm you're just trying
to manage how I feel okay, there's no pain.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
There's took lots of blood.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Feel lots of blood. All right, don't over exert yourself, right,
how are you doing that? Yeah, I'm okay, I'm dushing.
I'm dushing blood. It's still grushing, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
One of the first things that really struck me was
how calm you were. Do you think that was kind
of part of your sort of response in terms of
just not a trauma response, but you were in fight mode.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yes, and everything in that moment. I think it took
six or seven minutes perhaps for the ambulance to arrive,
and a lot was done in those six or seven minutes.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
So I culturable zero.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I popped them on clouds and straightaway new group message
to my mum, to my husband, to my sister, and
it was husband, you need to get to the hospital
and meet me an emergency a SAP drop what you're doing,
I'm bleeding, And then it was to my sister and
my mum, letting them know what had happened, and also
(12:40):
letting my mum know that she's going.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
To have to be a childcare pickup today, but.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Before she does the childcare pickup, she'll probably have to
come to my house and clean my bed and all
the floors.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
I also, in that time, managed to find an old.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
T shirt to chuck on, thinking that I'm going to
have to walk out of the house.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I can't do that in my underwear.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
I found a towel so that I could hobble around
the house to get what I needed without dripping all
over the house. And I kind of wiggled my way
standing on the tower to the bathroom and found one
of my disposable adult nappies that I had ready for
my postpartum experience, and I popped those on. And once
(13:22):
I had my bags at the front door, it was
unlocking the front doors because I thought to myself, what
happens if I pass out from blood loss and they
can't get in the front door. What happens then? So
I opened all the doors and had them swung open,
so worst case scenario, they could walk straight in and
I would be there at the door waiting for them.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And while you're doing this, I just think, this is
such a classic moment of mother's strength. Your gushing blood
this entire time.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah, I was, And I kept saying that to the
person on the phone call, and they're trying to be
really relaxed, and they're trying to reassure you, and she
was saying things like, don't prevent the baby from coming,
and make yourself comfortable, and I'm They're going, how do
I make myself comfortable?
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Do I just sit on the floor on this towel bleeding?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I found myself standing up, just holding on too like
a buffer, a kind of side table, just waiting for
the ambulance to arrive, with eyesight on the driveway the
whole time.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
What was your brain doing? Were you just basically really
in the moment at that point or were you thinking
the worst?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I was trying very hard to be absolutely in the moment.
In the group message that I had started, my sister
did ask me if I had felt the baby, and
I had had those thoughts kind of enter my brain
at different moments, and I was trying.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
To push them away.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I did hypno birthing with my son when I had
my spontaneous vaginal birth, and it was the exact same
in this situation where I just went back to you know,
it just becomes all about breathing, and it becomes all
about just controlling the thoughts that are entering your mind
and getting rid of the ones that are unhelpful and
(15:15):
clinging desperately onto the ones that are helpful.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah, it's that sushi train analogy, right, you know, you
let that thought pass, you take the one off that's helpful,
keep the sushi try and going.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, absolutely, coming up, we're taking you into surgery.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
We'll try to stop the bleeding.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
If we can't stop the bleeding, we will perform a hysterectomy.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Tell me about the paramedics arriving.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
So the paramedics reversed up the driveway and they came in,
and they were fabulous. They grabbed my things. They even
went to my kitchen and grabbed a garbage bag and
we changed over the disposable nappy that I was wearing,
and they took the used one with them in a
garbage bag. So they obviously had the foresight to know
(16:09):
that that would be required. And I walked to the ambulance,
got on the trolley and was strapped in and I
just remember hanging on for dear life online this little
pole next to me.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So you're in the ambulance. Now, what are the para
medics saying to you at this point?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Honestly, I think it was just very everyday shitter chatter
type thing. They had no way of monitoring the baby
at that point. All they could do was watch my heartbeat.
They were reassuring me that my heartbeat was good, and
I think that was because I was spending half the
time doing these you know, ridiculous deep breaths at hold
(16:52):
and release.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
But they were asking.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
About my son and my day and talking about how,
you know, the traffic was really good, and it's lights
and sirens and the cars are all moving out the way,
and I was holding onto the pole next to me,
laying down strapped in and there's a little window in
the ambulance and I can see all of the prominent
(17:16):
Melbourne buildings that were passing as we go through the city.
And I was aware that we were moving quite quickly
and that felt really good. But I was also aware
that nothing was happening in the way. That they had
put a canula into my arm in case that would
be needed once we arrived. They were monitoring my heart rate,
(17:36):
but really it was more just I think, staying in
the moment and just conversing until we arrived at a
point where something could be done.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
What happens after you get to the emergency room.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Well, just before we got to the emergency room, I
did get reassurance in the way that my baby's back
had moved from one side of my body to the other,
so that was a big there's movement within there. Once
we arrived at the hospital, I was trolleyed into emergency
and my husband was there, and that is when I
(18:10):
had that absolute, just flood of emotions and I started
balling my eyes out, and I remember holding onto him
and saying like I'm completely I'm ok I'm okay. I'm
just so happy that you're here, like you're my person
and we're together.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I have tears in my eyes too, because I can
imagine that, and that's almost like a safety point. It's
like I'm holding it together. I'm holding it together. I'm
holding it together. I can let go now because I
have some support.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
And someone else can hold it together for me. Now
you can do that and I can process when I
need to. So it moves really quickly from there. Once
we were together, the paramedics.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Took us up to the birth and suite.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
And the head midwife of the floor was there to
greet us. I was moved on to the bed and
they started hooking me up to monitoring the baby's heart
rate and to monitoring my heart rate, and I was
told that an obstetrician would be coming to assess me
and make a decision about how.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
We were going to proceed.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
The obstetrician arrived, they did an internal examination at that point,
and I was told that I was not in labor,
even though things in the ambulance had ramped up to
the point where I was breathing through what I thought
were really progressed contractions. So I arrived at the hospital
(19:40):
thinking that I was in quite established labor at that point,
because every couple of minutes I'm holding on to something,
I'm breathing, I'm getting through it, and then it would subside.
But I was told that I was not in labor,
and that I was dilated one or two centimeters that
I would typically be at that point in prior.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
To active labor beginning.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Anyway, whilst the obstetrician was conducting my internal the midwives
had removed my adult nappy and had taken the second
adult nappy of the paramedics, and they weighed those and
when they communicated the weight of those to the odd costatrician.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Everything changed, so it flicks therein Okay, this is emergency mode.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yes, so they flip switch quite quickly. The obstetrician looks
at me and is very direct, very straight with me,
and says, you're losing too much blood. We need to
get this baby out immediately. We are taking you into surgery.
We will get the baby out. We will try to
(20:48):
stop the bleeding. If we can't stop the bleeding, then
we will try to inflate your uterus. I believe they
said with a balloon. I'm not familiar with that process.
And then they said, if not, we will perform a hysterectomy,
to which my husband said, what's a hysterectomy? And all
the women in the room looked at him and had
(21:09):
a little giggle, and I had to say, Babe, I'll
take my uterus.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Sorry, it's not funny, but it is funny.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
It's a comedic moment, a light in the mood. In
our dark moments.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Sometimes we need a little giggle, and usually we can
rely on men to provide those.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
They do. They provide absolute gold in those, don't.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
They In your head, you're like, okay, so they might
be having a hysterectomy. When do they tell you that
you're going under because they're not doing a spinal tap,
they're putting it under general athetic.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
The head midwife of the floor at that point, she
was amazing this whole time. I had women holding my arms,
rubbing up and down my arms, squeezing my hands. I'm
a very physical person, and I remember everyone being really
physical with me and like helping reassure me. And she
(22:05):
said to me, hold my hand. There's going to be
a lot of lights, there's going to be a lot
of people. Squeeze my hand. Close your eyes. You don't
have to see this. And so I had my eyes
closed from when we left the birthing suite to arrive
in theater, and then I do remember looking up at
the ceiling and seeing people everywhere and hearing so many
(22:29):
voices and I'm hard of hearing. I we're hearing aids
twenty four to seven. I did not have them in
because I was at home watching a movie, and so
that in itself was quite overwhelming. But as soon as
the anaesthesiologist said Sabrina and spoke directly to me, I
knew this is the voice to hang on to and
(22:51):
then it was a matter of talking me through the moment.
So they said, we're putting another canula in your other arm.
You can feel us. Now we're washing your stomach. We're
drawing a line where we will cut. Don't worry, nothing
will happen until you're under the sheet goes up. I
had no idea at this point where my husband was.
(23:14):
From the moment I closed my eyes, I just succumbed
to the process and just again to breathing, and then
I remember, I guess I fell asleep.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
That is very, very harrowing. What we know now is
that you had a placental abruption.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
So they took Sienna out and fortunately she is beautiful
and healthy, perfect, and they were able to stop the bleeding.
Now you did mention something about them saying that she
came out all in one with the placenta detached already.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Yeah, So they opened me up and I was full
of blood.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
They lifted her out, and.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
The umbilical cord obviously came and the placenta came with it.
So from what I understand, in those last moments, the
plus center had almost completely detached from my uterus. That
was the cause of the bleeding. So usually the bleeding that.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
You have post birth is from that big.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Placental wound in the uterus that was happening to me
prior to giving birth. And the issue with that is
obviously the placenta provides all of the nutrients and most
importantly the oxygen to the baby. So we were extremely
lucky in the way that Sienna wasn't deprived of oxygen,
and the timing must have just been perfect that she
(24:41):
came out and was breathing usually just as at placenta
as I said before, came out with her.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Fortunately, they were able to stop the blood loss and
you wake up? What was that like waking up?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I woke up in recovery I believe about two two
and a half hours after her birth, and I was
in a recovery ward and there was a nurse with me.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
My husband and Sienna weren't in the room.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
I was never fearful of her not being okay, so
I didn't wake up with the scare of where's my
baby and did my baby make it? I had this
reassurance and just in my soul that everything was okay,
And within minutes they had gone and found my husband
(25:29):
and Sienna, and they were there extremely quickly, so it
wasn't as if I was lacking time.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
With them, and it was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It was a lot, I remember shaking a lot they
did the transfusion, but once I had Sienna, I was
able to have that beautiful, golden post birth moment. She
did a wonderful feed. We did all of our skin
to skin. They hadn't given her anything in the time
(25:57):
that I had been asleep, and she just did skin
to skin with my husband for those two hours. So
they had this beautiful moment. And from there it was
just becoming more alert to my surroundings and just really
taking in that amazement of I have this new baby,
(26:18):
and this baby is mine and I didn't birth it
through my vagina, So where did it come from?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Did your husband tell you his thoughts during the process
of when you were asleep and Sienna had come out?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
So Emmanuel wasn't allowed in the theater because I was
going under the general esthetic, so.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
He was in a room outside of the theater. And
my sister, actually, from the.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Moment that I had texted her telling this had happened,
had stormed out of work and jumped in a car
and come to the hospital, and so I believe she
was in the car when I went under and had
called Emmanuel and said she's had multiple cesareans and she
was walking him through what they would be doing. So
(27:05):
she was walking him through how they prepare for the
cesarean and reassuring him that once they make the cuts
that the baby comes straight, like, very very quickly, almost instantaneous.
So from what I understanded, that was a a really
beautiful bonding moment between my husband and my sister, and
that he had a person, even though it wasn't physically there,
(27:28):
he had someone to rely on.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
But obviously he was ridiculously.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Scared for myself and obviously having this big, long term
relationship with me and the connection he has with me,
and then he's scared for this little baby that he's
never met before that he doesn't yet have this relationship with.
But it's, you know, the person he will live his
life with.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yeah, people, he loves people, he loves Yeah. So they
take Sianna out and did she need to spend any
time in a nicu?
Speaker 4 (28:01):
She was perfect.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
She came out screaming and because of the nature of
the birth, the room was filled with pediatricians and everyone
has told me there was just a huge, like a
relief from everybody in the room. I have a lot
of photos of her coming out. She was obviously covered
in blood, but they cleaned her up and she's crying,
(28:22):
And I've got all these photos of my husband and
her immediately after she was taken out, so he had
all of those first moments with her. And I can
even click on the live photos and listen to him
talking to her whilst I was in surgery.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
What was he saying?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
He was saying things like Mummy's going to be okay.
They're working on mummy, Like she's going to be okay,
like I'm here, things of that nature. If I ever
have a fight with my husband, and I doubt the
way he feels about me, I can go back to
those photos and brush the short he loves me.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
I think the reason your story is so pertinent at
the moment is because of the story that's come out recently,
the baby that passed away due to a placental abruption. Yeah, recently,
and I think that's affected a lot of people. And
I am so happy that you and bub are okay
(29:24):
because a placental abruption is incredibly serious. I spoke to
an Obstrican before speaking with you today, and it is
really one of the most dangerous things that can happen
during a pregnancy. And I had no idea, and you
had no idea, and I did ask, and I'm sure
you've asked as well. They don't really know why it happens.
(29:44):
There's a couple of risk factors. But did they give
you any indication as to why this happened or.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
I have had care post birth?
Speaker 3 (29:54):
They have tested my plus center and there's nothing unusual.
They said it was odd that it happened with my
second pregnancy, because if this was something that I was
predisposed to, that it would likely show up in my
first pregnancy. I meet none of the risk factors and
it's not as if I had a fall or anything
like that, which has happened since to one of my friends.
(30:16):
They've told me at the hospital, and I was at
the Royal Women's Hospital Melbourne, which is our biggest hospital,
which is where you get sent if there is an
emergency like this. They said they see I think they
said one in one hundred in a year is a
placental abruption. And to my case would be one in
like two thousand. So they said placental abruption not particularly rare,
(30:41):
but to the extreme level that I had at at
quite rare and as you said, very serious.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
And I think the lesson in all of this is,
obviously there was a lot of luck involved, but you
picking up that phone and calling Triple Zeros straight away
is the absolute best thing that you could have done.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Absolutely, And that was told to me continuously by everyone
I spoke to in the days after, because I had
woken up from this experience and I guess I didn't
really understand and it took me days to work out
just how serious it had been, because you're not aware,
as a typical person how much blood you have in
(31:23):
your body, or what normal blood loss is, or when
it does get to a point where it becomes critical.
So in speaking to the obstetrician that did the surgery
in you know how tight Some of the hugs I
got from the midwives were like those things are telling
that people would come in, nurses and midwives would come
(31:45):
in and they would know who I was on the floor.
They had heard of what had happened. So there was
quite a few things like that that made me think, oh,
this is more than I thought it was initially.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
It's probably a good thing in retrospect for you personally,
you know, like being just that kind of speed of it.
But I am so so happy that Sienna came out beautifully.
I'm so happy that you recovered well. And how long
were you in hospital after Sienna's birth?
Speaker 3 (32:19):
They were actually pretty discharged me on day two, but
she had just dropped a little bit more of her
birthway than they were happy with, and so really I
stayed in hospital for I believe five days to monitor
her growth.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
So you did have a transfusion, not an iron infusion.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I had a blood transfusion when I was in recovery,
straight after I'd woken up. Then they ran my blood
work that day, and every day that I was in the.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Hospital they ran my blood work, and I was completely fine.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
The bloods showed no sign at all of me losing
the amount that a blood that I did, to the
point when I went to my six week check up
with my GP, he seriously questioned what had happened, because
he goes it.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
It doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
And I asked all of those questions to the hospital
when I went back and had post care with them,
and they really attributed the amount of iron that I
was during pregnancy was significant, and my stores were apparently
just so good that I was able to bounce the
way that I did.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Do you know from the reports how much blood you
lost in total?
Speaker 3 (33:34):
In total the hospital from what they could gather in
their ambulance and at the hospital and obviously in theater
they had edit two and a half leters, so that
would be not including the amount that I had lost
initially at home. Wow, to which when I first was
told that, again, I had no real understanding of what
(33:56):
that meant. How much blood does the body even hold?
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Do you know now?
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I think my GP told me for someone of my size,
I'm one hundred and sixty three centimeters, I'm not a
tall woman.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
I would probably have about five and a half.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
You lost a lot of blood. You lost a lot
of blood. Yes, I guess. The way that I would
love to finish this is is there a message that
you would like to share regarding your placental abruption.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
I would just love people to know that it exists.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
I am in no.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Way wanting to scare pregnant women, especially first time mothers.
But there is absolutely nothing wrong with learning about the
different things that can happen in birth and the different
pathways that it can take. Absolutely trusting your instinct that
if something is wrong, act. There is no shame in
(34:51):
acting where it is not needed. And if you have
to backtrack, that's completely fine. But if you act immediately
and it's needed, then you can save your life.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
You can save your baby's life.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
And I did all of this training for hypnobirth in
for my first birth, and never did I think that
it would have such an impact on my second emergency birth,
where it kept me grounded and kept me calm, was
just as useful.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Talk a lot about that.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
There's the fight flight or phrase, yes you're calm, you're
in fight mode, and you were this is what I
need to do, and you can hear that in the call.
I was blown away by your calm and ability to
get through that. I'm so happy that everything is okay,
and how all this Ciena.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Now, Sienna is just over one and she's striving, she's walking,
and she's talking and eating and interacting and socializing and
cheers and absolute delight of a baby.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thank you so much, Sabrina for sharing your story. I'm
going to need a few tissues after this, but thank
you very much, and yeah, very happy that everyone is okay.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Thank you for allowing me to share.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Given today's episode has been pretty traumatic, I wanted to
get some information from our resident obstitution and pocologist, doctor Bronwendevine,
about what exactly a placental abruption is.
Speaker 6 (36:26):
So, a placental abruption is a really very serious complication
of the second half of pregnancy, and it occurs when
the placenta, either in part or in full, shears off
the wall of the uterus, so it comes away from
the wall of the uterus. And the placenta is connected
to the uterus to provide oxygen and nutrients for the baby.
(36:50):
So if it comes away, the baby can't get oxygen
and nutrients, and oxygens the really important one. I mean,
they can go for a little bit of time without
getting nutrients coming across, but oxygen's imperative. Fetuses don't breathe
via their lungs, so they need to get oxygen via
the placenta. And if the placenta comes off the utrine
wall and it comes off a huge chunk of it
(37:11):
comes off, then that will leave the baby without an
oxygen supply and that can be extremely dangerous. Now, sometimes
there's an abruption where the placenta comes away a little
bit and there can be a lot of bleeding because
the percentae comes away. Then there's bleeding from behind that,
and that can trickle down and be obvious bleeding and
then the baby can be okay. But if we diagnose
(37:31):
a placental abruption, that's in almost all instances and indication
to get the baby born quickly. It's not just the
bub who's at risk from a placental abruption. Mums can
be at really serious risk as well. In response to
a placental abruption, they can develop what we call a coagulopathy,
so their blood can stop clotting and they can then
(37:53):
bleed and bleed very very heavily.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
And what about the risk factors?
Speaker 6 (37:58):
So it can happen without any known risk factors, but
we do know of several risk factors for the condition.
So if you've had a placental abruption before, you are
at increased risk in a subsequent pregnancy. Having high blood
pressure in pregnancy is an increased risk, and there are
certain autoimmune conditions that are more likely to be associated
(38:20):
with the blsas central abruption, and usually we're aware of
those beforehand because there are other things that can happen
as well, so we've usually got an idea one of
those conditions might be present. There are steps we can take,
for example, watching the baby's growth very carefully and having
people on blood thinners and things like that that can
(38:41):
help with reducing the risk. Controlling blood pressure, keeping an
eye on a fetus's growth, keeping an eye with ultrasounds
and things like that can help us predict some of
the features that can be present before an abruption occurs.
But sometimes it just occurs out of the blue without
any warning signs and it can be very very serious
(39:04):
for Mum and bub.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Dari of a Birth was hosted by me Kasanulo Kitch
with expert input from doctor Bronwyn Devine. And while we
have you here, we're on the hunt to share powerful
underrepresented stories from people of all cultures, backgrounds and abilities.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
If you've been affected by today's episode, we've attached additional
resources in the show notes.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
This episode was produced by Tina Matalov and myself Cassenya
Lukich with audio production by Leah Porgies
You're listening to a Mumma Mia podcast. Mamma Mia acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on. We pay our respects to elders past,
present and emerging, and feel privileged to continue the sharing
of birth stories and knowledge that has been a fundamental
part of Indigenous culture. This episode of Diary of a
(00:42):
Birth contains graphic descriptions, including blood loss and traumatic injury.
Please proceed with caution. Additional resources can be found in
the show notes. Hi, I'm Cassenya Lukitch and this is
Diary of a Birth.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Here in Australia.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We're fortunate enough to have access to excellent healthcare, but
pregnancy and birth can still be incredibly dangerous and complications
can and do happen. Today's episode is not here to
scare you, but to arm you with information, to tell
a story of a mum who faced an incredibly rare
complication known as a placental abruption.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
So I was laying in bed and I felt a
pot in my uterus. I could hear and feel it
as I pulled my underwear down. The blood ran down
my legs and spilled out over onto the floor.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
As I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I'll leave the medical explanations to doctor Brolin Devine later
on in the episode. But it can be fatal to
both mother and baby. Today's mom exhibited incredible bravery and
with luck, good timing, and a fast acting medical team,
both her and her Bob are healthy and thriving.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So let's meet today's mom.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Hi, I'm Sabrina and this is a diary of my
birth with Sienna.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Sabrina, your story came through and you wrote this beautiful,
beautiful email and it really sort of struck a chord
because it was a really traumatic and challenging birth for you. Yes,
you already had one baby, Kingston. That's right, so this
(02:35):
was your second birth. So I feel like sometimes we
get to our second birth and we go, yep, I
know what I'm doing. But how did you feel when
you fell pregnant with Siena.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
I was really excited.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It was a lot shorter process than the first time
round because I feel like I had a bit more
understanding of my body and how to go about falling pregnant,
and so I thought, I know what I'm doing with
the pregnancy. I know what to expect and from what
you hear from everybody. Labor ideally is same, same bit shorter.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
That was the hope.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Anyway, How old was Kingston when you fell pregnant with Sienna?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I think it was about two years old, give or
take either side a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Emmanuel, who is your partner? You're excited, You've got your
first trimester, everything's going well. How are you feeling during
this time?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
I was feeling really great.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Obviously noticing a big difference between my first and my
second pregnancy. I had a toddler to keep up with.
I was a lot more tired. So with my first
pregnancy I was extremely active, and my second pregnancy I
was really struggling to fit in conventional exercise, but I
probably was running around a lot, so that was probably
(03:47):
the biggest difference. But otherwise, very lucky to have very regular,
unexciting pregnancies.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So with your first baby, you went into spontaneous labor.
As I understand it, you were seven hours, you had gas.
It was pretty straightforward. So in your head you're.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Imagining that same sort of situation again exactly. My fear
was when do I leave home to get to the hospital,
Knowing that the active part of labor would likely be shorter,
and because I had, you know, a relatively short labor
the first time for a first time mum, I didn't
push for very long.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
My question was more, you.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Know, how can I have that at home birth experience
but still make it to the hospital in time for
the grand finale?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
What kind of system were you in? Were you in
the public system? Private system? How was your birth supported?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
So I was in the public system.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I was seeing obstetricians a whole way through though, because
I have problems with my thyroids, so they were keeping
an eye on that the whole way. That, however, didn't
put me into any sort of high risk territory. It
was just more keeping a second set of eyes on
my pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So you get through your second trimester, the trimester, can
you talk us through a little bit about the last
few weeks before you going into labor? How are you feeling?
Speaker 4 (05:11):
I feel like big question.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I was not feeling amazing. I felt like my body
was getting bigger rapidly this time around, and due to
my muscles being a little bit.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
More lax, I worked a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Later in my second pregnancy, so I worked all the
way up until thirty eight weeks, thinking that I would
try to extend my maternity leave a little bit longer
and work from home a bit more, And I was
honestly feeling quite stressed with the idea of finishing up work,
handing over things that were happening. I was on a
(05:46):
contract at work that was finishing up in the next
two months, and I didn't have a clear outcome of
whether my job would be extended at that point. So
I think in my pregnancy I felt really good, but
just life and its entirety was a lot at that point,
so I hadn't put a lot of focus onto.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Birthing like I had in my first pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
In terms of your support system with you know, your husband, emmanual, family,
how was that around you?
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Fantastic.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I'm really lucky to have my husband, and then I
have a sister who who also has children the same
age as me, and my mother is also very involved
in my family life. So I've got a great little
network around me.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Okay, So let's get up to the day of a guess,
going into labor. If that's what can you call it?
What was your day like in the morning?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So I had had those period like cramps the night
before and that night, and I'd woken up and it
was still the same, so that lower kind of backache
that you have just before you get your period, and
I thought, oh, I remember this feeling. I remember that sensation.
Is something coming. And I said to my husband, it's fine,
(07:00):
go to work. We don't live far away from the hospital.
He doesn't work far away from me. And I was
quite confident in the way that I had birthed previously,
that if I was to go into labor, that he
would have time to come home, and that I was
comfortable resting and being active and just being around the
(07:21):
house in those early hours. So I was very comfortable
in saying, a man, head off to work, and I'll
give you a call if I need you. But I
feel confident that if I'm going to go into labor,
it will probably be tonight, you know, when I'm comfortable
and I'm sleepy, I'll wake up.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
And things will progress. And where was Kingston at this point.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
He was in childcare, which was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So that was actually my first day of maternity leave too,
so I just thought, I'll go for a walk. I
vividly remember cooking spinach and ricotta rolls and thinking I
can put some in the fridge, I can pop some
in the freezer. We've got some you know, storage there.
And then I thought to myself, well, who knows how
(08:08):
long the night could potentially be and if there will
be any sleep, So I will try my best to
lay in bed and watch a movie at the minimum.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Which is very well deserved. We don't need to explain
that firstday of maternity leave husbands at work above number one,
Kixton is at daycare. You've got some time to kind
of recuperate. So you're trying to recuperate, prepare yourself for
what's to come. So you're having a rest in bed
and tell us what happens next.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
So I was laying in bed and I felt a
pop in my uterus and I cannot tell you to
this day whether it was an audible pop, but to me,
it felt very audible.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I could hear and feel it, and.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I thought, oh, that's that was really funny. It was
almost like when you click a muscle or something. Something's
quite obviously happened. And I had enough time to pull
out my phone and google pregnant uterus pop. And whilst
I was googling, I felt a gush between my thighs,
and with my first pregnancy, my waters did not break spontaneously.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
That was done in the hospital all and so I.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Thought, oh, this must be my waters, this must be
what it feels like.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
And I was very well prepared.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I had dark charcoal sheets on the bed in case,
you know, anything was to happen over the next couple
of days, and avoiding stains.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
So I had to flip my legs.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Over to the side of the bed and I pulled
down my underwear to how to look at the waters
and see if there was anything in them.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
And as I pulled my.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Underwear down, blood ran down my legs and spilled out
over onto the floor.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
You get up and you see all of this blood,
which I imagine would be quite terrifying for you.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
What was your first thought.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
That it's not normal. It was bright red, so it
wasn't old blood. It was fresh, and it was continuous.
So the first thing I did was I picked up
my phone and I called the ambulance straight away. I
was in the exact same spot that I had when
I flicked my legs over the bed. I hadn't stood up.
I just grabbed my phone and straight away called Triple.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
Zero emergency services. Tell me exactly what happened. I'm thirty
eight and a half weeks pregnant.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I started popping in my uterrifs and I did add
a huge gush of blood and it's not stopping.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
All right, let's get you that help right away. Do
you have anybody there with you at the moment? No,
I'm home alone. Okay. Now can you see I feel
all touch any part of the baby now, No, my
vagina feels closed still. Okay? Are you having contractions? I
have had very dull period, pain.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
White, contraction last nam last night.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
More black and yeah, okay there's more blood. Yeah, understood.
I'm keeping them updated. Okay, now you just try and rest. Okay,
So do not sit on the toilet and Justine faces
is the baby coming? Do not try to prevent the
burse all right. I assume the most comfortable position here
and take deep breaths between contractions. And it's going to
(11:21):
put a exposable underwear on. Good idea. But there's a
blood still coming out there. Yeah, okay, how are you
feeling now? Any changes?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
No, no change here, it's more I'm you're just trying
to manage how I feel okay, there's no pain.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
There's took lots of blood.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Feel lots of blood. All right, don't over exert yourself, right,
how are you doing that? Yeah, I'm okay, I'm dushing.
I'm dushing blood. It's still grushing, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
One of the first things that really struck me was
how calm you were. Do you think that was kind
of part of your sort of response in terms of
just not a trauma response, but you were in fight mode.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yes, and everything in that moment. I think it took
six or seven minutes perhaps for the ambulance to arrive,
and a lot was done in those six or seven minutes.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
So I culturable zero.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I popped them on clouds and straightaway new group message
to my mum, to my husband, to my sister, and
it was husband, you need to get to the hospital
and meet me an emergency a SAP drop what you're doing,
I'm bleeding, And then it was to my sister and
my mum, letting them know what had happened, and also
(12:40):
letting my mum know that she's going.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
To have to be a childcare pickup today, but.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Before she does the childcare pickup, she'll probably have to
come to my house and clean my bed and all
the floors.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
I also, in that time, managed to find an old.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
T shirt to chuck on, thinking that I'm going to
have to walk out of the house.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I can't do that in my underwear.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
I found a towel so that I could hobble around
the house to get what I needed without dripping all
over the house. And I kind of wiggled my way
standing on the tower to the bathroom and found one
of my disposable adult nappies that I had ready for
my postpartum experience, and I popped those on. And once
(13:22):
I had my bags at the front door, it was
unlocking the front doors because I thought to myself, what
happens if I pass out from blood loss and they
can't get in the front door. What happens then? So
I opened all the doors and had them swung open,
so worst case scenario, they could walk straight in and
I would be there at the door waiting for them.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And while you're doing this, I just think, this is
such a classic moment of mother's strength. Your gushing blood
this entire time.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah, I was, And I kept saying that to the
person on the phone call, and they're trying to be
really relaxed, and they're trying to reassure you, and she
was saying things like, don't prevent the baby from coming,
and make yourself comfortable, and I'm They're going, how do
I make myself comfortable?
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Do I just sit on the floor on this towel bleeding?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I found myself standing up, just holding on too like
a buffer, a kind of side table, just waiting for
the ambulance to arrive, with eyesight on the driveway the
whole time.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
What was your brain doing? Were you just basically really
in the moment at that point or were you thinking
the worst?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I was trying very hard to be absolutely in the moment.
In the group message that I had started, my sister
did ask me if I had felt the baby, and
I had had those thoughts kind of enter my brain
at different moments, and I was trying.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
To push them away.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I did hypno birthing with my son when I had
my spontaneous vaginal birth, and it was the exact same
in this situation where I just went back to you know,
it just becomes all about breathing, and it becomes all
about just controlling the thoughts that are entering your mind
and getting rid of the ones that are unhelpful and
(15:15):
clinging desperately onto the ones that are helpful.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah, it's that sushi train analogy, right, you know, you
let that thought pass, you take the one off that's helpful,
keep the sushi try and going.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, absolutely, coming up, we're taking you into surgery.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
We'll try to stop the bleeding.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
If we can't stop the bleeding, we will perform a hysterectomy.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Tell me about the paramedics arriving.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
So the paramedics reversed up the driveway and they came in,
and they were fabulous. They grabbed my things. They even
went to my kitchen and grabbed a garbage bag and
we changed over the disposable nappy that I was wearing,
and they took the used one with them in a
garbage bag. So they obviously had the foresight to know
(16:09):
that that would be required. And I walked to the ambulance,
got on the trolley and was strapped in and I
just remember hanging on for dear life online this little
pole next to me.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So you're in the ambulance. Now, what are the para
medics saying to you at this point?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Honestly, I think it was just very everyday shitter chatter
type thing. They had no way of monitoring the baby
at that point. All they could do was watch my heartbeat.
They were reassuring me that my heartbeat was good, and
I think that was because I was spending half the
time doing these you know, ridiculous deep breaths at hold
(16:52):
and release.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
But they were asking.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
About my son and my day and talking about how,
you know, the traffic was really good, and it's lights
and sirens and the cars are all moving out the way,
and I was holding onto the pole next to me,
laying down strapped in and there's a little window in
the ambulance and I can see all of the prominent
(17:16):
Melbourne buildings that were passing as we go through the city.
And I was aware that we were moving quite quickly
and that felt really good. But I was also aware
that nothing was happening in the way. That they had
put a canula into my arm in case that would
be needed once we arrived. They were monitoring my heart rate,
(17:36):
but really it was more just I think, staying in
the moment and just conversing until we arrived at a
point where something could be done.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
What happens after you get to the emergency room.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Well, just before we got to the emergency room, I
did get reassurance in the way that my baby's back
had moved from one side of my body to the other,
so that was a big there's movement within there. Once
we arrived at the hospital, I was trolleyed into emergency
and my husband was there, and that is when I
(18:10):
had that absolute, just flood of emotions and I started
balling my eyes out, and I remember holding onto him
and saying like I'm completely I'm ok I'm okay. I'm
just so happy that you're here, like you're my person
and we're together.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I have tears in my eyes too, because I can
imagine that, and that's almost like a safety point. It's
like I'm holding it together. I'm holding it together. I'm
holding it together. I can let go now because I
have some support.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
And someone else can hold it together for me. Now
you can do that and I can process when I
need to. So it moves really quickly from there. Once
we were together, the paramedics.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Took us up to the birth and suite.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
And the head midwife of the floor was there to
greet us. I was moved on to the bed and
they started hooking me up to monitoring the baby's heart
rate and to monitoring my heart rate, and I was
told that an obstetrician would be coming to assess me
and make a decision about how.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
We were going to proceed.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
The obstetrician arrived, they did an internal examination at that point,
and I was told that I was not in labor,
even though things in the ambulance had ramped up to
the point where I was breathing through what I thought
were really progressed contractions. So I arrived at the hospital
(19:40):
thinking that I was in quite established labor at that point,
because every couple of minutes I'm holding on to something,
I'm breathing, I'm getting through it, and then it would subside.
But I was told that I was not in labor,
and that I was dilated one or two centimeters that
I would typically be at that point in prior.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
To active labor beginning.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Anyway, whilst the obstetrician was conducting my internal the midwives
had removed my adult nappy and had taken the second
adult nappy of the paramedics, and they weighed those and
when they communicated the weight of those to the odd costatrician.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Everything changed, so it flicks therein Okay, this is emergency mode.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yes, so they flip switch quite quickly. The obstetrician looks
at me and is very direct, very straight with me,
and says, you're losing too much blood. We need to
get this baby out immediately. We are taking you into surgery.
We will get the baby out. We will try to
(20:48):
stop the bleeding. If we can't stop the bleeding, then
we will try to inflate your uterus. I believe they
said with a balloon. I'm not familiar with that process.
And then they said, if not, we will perform a hysterectomy,
to which my husband said, what's a hysterectomy? And all
the women in the room looked at him and had
(21:09):
a little giggle, and I had to say, Babe, I'll
take my uterus.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Sorry, it's not funny, but it is funny.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
It's a comedic moment, a light in the mood. In
our dark moments.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Sometimes we need a little giggle, and usually we can
rely on men to provide those.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
They do. They provide absolute gold in those, don't.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
They In your head, you're like, okay, so they might
be having a hysterectomy. When do they tell you that
you're going under because they're not doing a spinal tap,
they're putting it under general athetic.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
The head midwife of the floor at that point, she
was amazing this whole time. I had women holding my arms,
rubbing up and down my arms, squeezing my hands. I'm
a very physical person, and I remember everyone being really
physical with me and like helping reassure me. And she
(22:05):
said to me, hold my hand. There's going to be
a lot of lights, there's going to be a lot
of people. Squeeze my hand. Close your eyes. You don't
have to see this. And so I had my eyes
closed from when we left the birthing suite to arrive
in theater, and then I do remember looking up at
the ceiling and seeing people everywhere and hearing so many
(22:29):
voices and I'm hard of hearing. I we're hearing aids
twenty four to seven. I did not have them in
because I was at home watching a movie, and so
that in itself was quite overwhelming. But as soon as
the anaesthesiologist said Sabrina and spoke directly to me, I
knew this is the voice to hang on to and
(22:51):
then it was a matter of talking me through the moment.
So they said, we're putting another canula in your other arm.
You can feel us. Now we're washing your stomach. We're
drawing a line where we will cut. Don't worry, nothing
will happen until you're under the sheet goes up. I
had no idea at this point where my husband was.
(23:14):
From the moment I closed my eyes, I just succumbed
to the process and just again to breathing, and then
I remember, I guess I fell asleep.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
That is very, very harrowing. What we know now is
that you had a placental abruption.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
So they took Sienna out and fortunately she is beautiful
and healthy, perfect, and they were able to stop the bleeding.
Now you did mention something about them saying that she
came out all in one with the placenta detached already.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Yeah, So they opened me up and I was full
of blood.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
They lifted her out, and.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
The umbilical cord obviously came and the placenta came with it.
So from what I understand, in those last moments, the
plus center had almost completely detached from my uterus. That
was the cause of the bleeding. So usually the bleeding that.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
You have post birth is from that big.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Placental wound in the uterus that was happening to me
prior to giving birth. And the issue with that is
obviously the placenta provides all of the nutrients and most
importantly the oxygen to the baby. So we were extremely
lucky in the way that Sienna wasn't deprived of oxygen,
and the timing must have just been perfect that she
(24:41):
came out and was breathing usually just as at placenta
as I said before, came out with her.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Fortunately, they were able to stop the blood loss and
you wake up? What was that like waking up?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I woke up in recovery I believe about two two
and a half hours after her birth, and I was
in a recovery ward and there was a nurse with me.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
My husband and Sienna weren't in the room.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
I was never fearful of her not being okay, so
I didn't wake up with the scare of where's my
baby and did my baby make it? I had this
reassurance and just in my soul that everything was okay,
And within minutes they had gone and found my husband
(25:29):
and Sienna, and they were there extremely quickly, so it
wasn't as if I was lacking time.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
With them, and it was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It was a lot, I remember shaking a lot they
did the transfusion, but once I had Sienna, I was
able to have that beautiful, golden post birth moment. She
did a wonderful feed. We did all of our skin
to skin. They hadn't given her anything in the time
(25:57):
that I had been asleep, and she just did skin
to skin with my husband for those two hours. So
they had this beautiful moment. And from there it was
just becoming more alert to my surroundings and just really
taking in that amazement of I have this new baby,
(26:18):
and this baby is mine and I didn't birth it
through my vagina, So where did it come from?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Did your husband tell you his thoughts during the process
of when you were asleep and Sienna had come out?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
So Emmanuel wasn't allowed in the theater because I was
going under the general esthetic, so.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
He was in a room outside of the theater. And
my sister, actually, from the.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Moment that I had texted her telling this had happened,
had stormed out of work and jumped in a car
and come to the hospital, and so I believe she
was in the car when I went under and had
called Emmanuel and said she's had multiple cesareans and she
was walking him through what they would be doing. So
(27:05):
she was walking him through how they prepare for the
cesarean and reassuring him that once they make the cuts
that the baby comes straight, like, very very quickly, almost instantaneous.
So from what I understanded, that was a a really
beautiful bonding moment between my husband and my sister, and
that he had a person, even though it wasn't physically there,
(27:28):
he had someone to rely on.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
But obviously he was ridiculously.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Scared for myself and obviously having this big, long term
relationship with me and the connection he has with me,
and then he's scared for this little baby that he's
never met before that he doesn't yet have this relationship with.
But it's, you know, the person he will live his
life with.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yeah, people, he loves people, he loves Yeah. So they
take Sianna out and did she need to spend any
time in a nicu?
Speaker 4 (28:01):
She was perfect.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
She came out screaming and because of the nature of
the birth, the room was filled with pediatricians and everyone
has told me there was just a huge, like a
relief from everybody in the room. I have a lot
of photos of her coming out. She was obviously covered
in blood, but they cleaned her up and she's crying,
(28:22):
And I've got all these photos of my husband and
her immediately after she was taken out, so he had
all of those first moments with her. And I can
even click on the live photos and listen to him
talking to her whilst I was in surgery.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
What was he saying?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
He was saying things like Mummy's going to be okay.
They're working on mummy, Like she's going to be okay,
like I'm here, things of that nature. If I ever
have a fight with my husband, and I doubt the
way he feels about me, I can go back to
those photos and brush the short he loves me.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
I think the reason your story is so pertinent at
the moment is because of the story that's come out recently,
the baby that passed away due to a placental abruption. Yeah, recently,
and I think that's affected a lot of people. And
I am so happy that you and bub are okay
(29:24):
because a placental abruption is incredibly serious. I spoke to
an Obstrican before speaking with you today, and it is
really one of the most dangerous things that can happen
during a pregnancy. And I had no idea, and you
had no idea, and I did ask, and I'm sure
you've asked as well. They don't really know why it happens.
(29:44):
There's a couple of risk factors. But did they give
you any indication as to why this happened or.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
I have had care post birth?
Speaker 3 (29:54):
They have tested my plus center and there's nothing unusual.
They said it was odd that it happened with my
second pregnancy, because if this was something that I was
predisposed to, that it would likely show up in my
first pregnancy. I meet none of the risk factors and
it's not as if I had a fall or anything
like that, which has happened since to one of my friends.
(30:16):
They've told me at the hospital, and I was at
the Royal Women's Hospital Melbourne, which is our biggest hospital,
which is where you get sent if there is an
emergency like this. They said they see I think they
said one in one hundred in a year is a
placental abruption. And to my case would be one in
like two thousand. So they said placental abruption not particularly rare,
(30:41):
but to the extreme level that I had at at
quite rare and as you said, very serious.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
And I think the lesson in all of this is,
obviously there was a lot of luck involved, but you
picking up that phone and calling Triple Zeros straight away
is the absolute best thing that you could have done.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Absolutely, And that was told to me continuously by everyone
I spoke to in the days after, because I had
woken up from this experience and I guess I didn't
really understand and it took me days to work out
just how serious it had been, because you're not aware,
as a typical person how much blood you have in
(31:23):
your body, or what normal blood loss is, or when
it does get to a point where it becomes critical.
So in speaking to the obstetrician that did the surgery
in you know how tight Some of the hugs I
got from the midwives were like those things are telling
that people would come in, nurses and midwives would come
(31:45):
in and they would know who I was on the floor.
They had heard of what had happened. So there was
quite a few things like that that made me think, oh,
this is more than I thought it was initially.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
It's probably a good thing in retrospect for you personally,
you know, like being just that kind of speed of it.
But I am so so happy that Sienna came out beautifully.
I'm so happy that you recovered well. And how long
were you in hospital after Sienna's birth?
Speaker 3 (32:19):
They were actually pretty discharged me on day two, but
she had just dropped a little bit more of her
birthway than they were happy with, and so really I
stayed in hospital for I believe five days to monitor
her growth.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
So you did have a transfusion, not an iron infusion.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I had a blood transfusion when I was in recovery,
straight after I'd woken up. Then they ran my blood
work that day, and every day that I was in the.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Hospital they ran my blood work, and I was completely fine.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
The bloods showed no sign at all of me losing
the amount that a blood that I did, to the
point when I went to my six week check up
with my GP, he seriously questioned what had happened, because
he goes it.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
It doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
And I asked all of those questions to the hospital
when I went back and had post care with them,
and they really attributed the amount of iron that I
was during pregnancy was significant, and my stores were apparently
just so good that I was able to bounce the
way that I did.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Do you know from the reports how much blood you
lost in total?
Speaker 3 (33:34):
In total the hospital from what they could gather in
their ambulance and at the hospital and obviously in theater
they had edit two and a half leters, so that
would be not including the amount that I had lost
initially at home. Wow, to which when I first was
told that, again, I had no real understanding of what
(33:56):
that meant. How much blood does the body even hold?
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Do you know now?
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I think my GP told me for someone of my size,
I'm one hundred and sixty three centimeters, I'm not a
tall woman.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
I would probably have about five and a half.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
You lost a lot of blood. You lost a lot
of blood. Yes, I guess. The way that I would
love to finish this is is there a message that
you would like to share regarding your placental abruption.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
I would just love people to know that it exists.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
I am in no.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Way wanting to scare pregnant women, especially first time mothers.
But there is absolutely nothing wrong with learning about the
different things that can happen in birth and the different
pathways that it can take. Absolutely trusting your instinct that
if something is wrong, act. There is no shame in
(34:51):
acting where it is not needed. And if you have
to backtrack, that's completely fine. But if you act immediately
and it's needed, then you can save your life.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
You can save your baby's life.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
And I did all of this training for hypnobirth in
for my first birth, and never did I think that
it would have such an impact on my second emergency birth,
where it kept me grounded and kept me calm, was
just as useful.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Talk a lot about that.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
There's the fight flight or phrase, yes you're calm, you're
in fight mode, and you were this is what I
need to do, and you can hear that in the call.
I was blown away by your calm and ability to
get through that. I'm so happy that everything is okay,
and how all this Ciena.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Now, Sienna is just over one and she's striving, she's walking,
and she's talking and eating and interacting and socializing and
cheers and absolute delight of a baby.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thank you so much, Sabrina for sharing your story. I'm
going to need a few tissues after this, but thank
you very much, and yeah, very happy that everyone is okay.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Thank you for allowing me to share.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Given today's episode has been pretty traumatic, I wanted to
get some information from our resident obstitution and pocologist, doctor Bronwendevine,
about what exactly a placental abruption is.
Speaker 6 (36:26):
So, a placental abruption is a really very serious complication
of the second half of pregnancy, and it occurs when
the placenta, either in part or in full, shears off
the wall of the uterus, so it comes away from
the wall of the uterus. And the placenta is connected
to the uterus to provide oxygen and nutrients for the baby.
(36:50):
So if it comes away, the baby can't get oxygen
and nutrients, and oxygens the really important one. I mean,
they can go for a little bit of time without
getting nutrients coming across, but oxygen's imperative. Fetuses don't breathe
via their lungs, so they need to get oxygen via
the placenta. And if the placenta comes off the utrine
wall and it comes off a huge chunk of it
(37:11):
comes off, then that will leave the baby without an
oxygen supply and that can be extremely dangerous. Now, sometimes
there's an abruption where the placenta comes away a little
bit and there can be a lot of bleeding because
the percentae comes away. Then there's bleeding from behind that,
and that can trickle down and be obvious bleeding and
then the baby can be okay. But if we diagnose
(37:31):
a placental abruption, that's in almost all instances and indication
to get the baby born quickly. It's not just the
bub who's at risk from a placental abruption. Mums can
be at really serious risk as well. In response to
a placental abruption, they can develop what we call a coagulopathy,
so their blood can stop clotting and they can then
(37:53):
bleed and bleed very very heavily.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
And what about the risk factors?
Speaker 6 (37:58):
So it can happen without any known risk factors, but
we do know of several risk factors for the condition.
So if you've had a placental abruption before, you are
at increased risk in a subsequent pregnancy. Having high blood
pressure in pregnancy is an increased risk, and there are
certain autoimmune conditions that are more likely to be associated
(38:20):
with the blsas central abruption, and usually we're aware of
those beforehand because there are other things that can happen
as well, so we've usually got an idea one of
those conditions might be present. There are steps we can take,
for example, watching the baby's growth very carefully and having
people on blood thinners and things like that that can
(38:41):
help with reducing the risk. Controlling blood pressure, keeping an
eye on a fetus's growth, keeping an eye with ultrasounds
and things like that can help us predict some of
the features that can be present before an abruption occurs.
But sometimes it just occurs out of the blue without
any warning signs and it can be very very serious
(39:04):
for Mum and bub.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Dari of a Birth was hosted by me Kasanulo Kitch
with expert input from doctor Bronwyn Devine. And while we
have you here, we're on the hunt to share powerful
underrepresented stories from people of all cultures, backgrounds and abilities.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
If you've been affected by today's episode, we've attached additional
resources in the show notes.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
This episode was produced by Tina Matalov and myself Cassenya
Lukich with audio production by Leah Porgies
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