Louise's Story

Fifty minutes. It's less than one hour and doesn't sound like much. There isn't a lot you can do with fifty minutes. But in the 3000 seconds between 10.48 and 11.38pm on the night of 30 November 1998 we went through an experience that ranged from pure terror to indescribable joy and left a mark on us both that will stay forever.

I had a fairly uneventful pregnancy - apart from having scans every three weeks because they found I had uterine notches at my 23 week scan. I was warned that the notches could cause premature labour, pre-eclampsia or a small baby but the chances of any of these were slight. I had my last scan at 36 weeks when everything seemed to be progressing as normal. I felt well and was looking forward to putting my feet up and enjoying the three weeks before my baby was due.

That was on a Friday. I was a bit sick over the weekend but nothing unusual - I just thought I'd eaten too much. On the Monday evening I was feeling a bit tired and run down and had a slight backache - but if anything I thought it was just my labour starting. I went to bed but couldn't sleep.

At around half past ten I felt I needed to go to the toilet - I made it through the bathroom door but then thought I had wet myself. I switched on the light and realised that there was blood all over the bathroom floor and me! I screamed for my partner (Jerry) to come (I must have sounded urgent as he doesn't often rush when I shout!). We phoned the hospital and the midwife asked whether I was sure I wasn't just having my show. I managed to persuade her it was more than my show and she said we should make our way in. As she didn't seem to think it was anything unusual I stayed quite calm and got dressed and then we went. Luckily we only live ten minutes away from the hospital.

When we arrived they tried to find the baby's heartbeat and then tried to scan me. Then they ran down the corridor pushing the bed to the operating theatre. I don't think anybody explained at the time what was happening but I later found out that my placenta had abrupted. My daughter was born at 11.38pm (less than an hour after my phonecall to the hospital). As I had to have a general anaesthetic for my caesarean my Jerry had to wait outside. I think I was in the lucky position of being unaware of what was happening because he was told to expect the worst and only knew everything was okay when he heard our daughter cry.

When I came round from the anaesthetic I was able to hold my daughter (Eleanor). She weighed 5lb 14 oz and was very healthy considering what she had been through. We spent the next day on the labour ward - it was planned that we would be moved to the post-natal ward later that day but first they had to check I didn't need a blood transfusion because of all the blood I had lost - luckily I didn't. They were monitoring my blood pressure regularly and later in the afternoon it started to rise I also started shaking uncontrollably.

They gave me Magnesium Sulphate which seemed to stop the shaking (but it made me feel as if I was burning). I spent the night with doctors asking whether I had headaches or visual disturbances - they asked that often that I was worried that I should be seeing spots before my eyes. Things all go a bit fuzzy around then but I spent the next two days having half-hourly blood pressure checks and it carried on rising. I had to have another line put in me for the drugs they put me on to control my blood pressure - they were having trouble finding veins by this time so it took a few painful attempts before they got it going (I also had to have my ring cut off because my hands were swelling up).

I was finally taken off my drips on the Thursday afternoon and as my blood pressure was down they moved me to the normal ward. I was starting to feel better by that point but that night the shaking came back - this time I was given some temazepan which knocked me out for the rest of the night but made me feel awful when I woke up. My blood pressure spent the next few days going through the roof (190/110) and them having to bring it down with extra medication. They finally let us go home eight days after Eleanor was born - still on a lot of medication and with the midwifes visiting everyday - I think they were glad to get rid of us. When we came home my blood pressure began to settle and is now back to normal.

Everything I had ever read about pre-eclampsia had said that the only cure for it was the delivery of the placenta - I didn't appear to have any problems until the day after Eleanor was born. Also I am not sure whether the placental abruption was related to the pre-eclampsia. As far as I am aware I never had a raised blood pressure reading throughout my pregnancy or any protein in my urine.

I don't fit into any of the categories of people who are at most risk of having a placental abruption - I don't smoke or use drugs. I also don't really fit into any of the groups of people who are more likely to get pre-eclampsia. I suppose it is just one of those things that happened and I am very lucky that both my daughter and I are here to tell the tale - but I feel I missed out on a lot in the first few days of Eleanor's life and it took me longer to bond with her because of this.

Eight weeks on life is getting back to normal - I have read everything I can get my hands on about placental abruption and pre-eclampsia. It really helps to read other peoples experiences as it makes me feel less isolated. When I was still in hospital I was getting so obsessed about my blood pressure it felt like I was the only one suffering from this.

Louise