Birth Stories

Karrie’s Birth Stories: A Hemorrhage and Precipitous Birth

Editor’s note: We believe that all birth stories and all birth experiences matter. This post is part of an ongoing series of birth stories submitted by readers and fellow bloggers, featuring a diverse range of women and their birth experiences. Today Karrie is sharing both her birth stories – the first ended in a post-delivery hemorrhage, but the second easy was as pie. If you would like to share your own birth story, please visit this post to learn how. ~Olivia


On February 21, 2000, at 1:00 am, I woke up feeling like I had wet the bed. While going to the bathroom, cleaning up, and changing, I had the same sensation before I even got back into bed. I woke up my husband and told him to call the hospital to see if we should come up. I had experienced false labor several times already, and I was supposed to be induced at 9:00 am that morning.

The nurse told my husband to bring me, and they would keep me as I had to be there at 9:00 am anyway. They set me up in a room and all was well. I was having small contractions – no big deal. At 7:00 am I told my husband to call my mother because the contractions were getting a lot stronger, and I was starting to lose my concentration. I needed her!

Nanny got to the hospital just before the nurses took me to the birthing room. She called my dad and sister at this time. I had actually found focus through reading the label on a lotion jar over and over out loud and blowing fake bubbles as far as I could. At 7:10 am, I was brought down to the birthing room and waited for Dr. Margarette Gardner to come and assess the situation.

I had extreme pain in my back, but I was unwilling to take any meds even though they were offered. I did accept the gas mask which unfortunately made me throw up immediately. When the doctor walked in at 7:45 am, she checked me and found I was 2 cm dilated. She had rounds to do, so she planned to return in an hour.

By this time, my husband was sleeping between contractions in the chair next to me. The sound of his voice was irritating me so much, I was constantly yelling at him to shut the hell up. Thankfully my patient husband thought it was funny and smiled every time. When the doctor returned at 8:45, I was still only 2 cm dilated and she left for her office 3 minutes away. (The nurse was to call her when needed.)

The doctor left, and almost immediately, I had an overwhelming feeling to push. I was told over and over not to, but that doesn’t work! Two pushing pains, no doctor, one hell of a nervous nurse, and I had a beautiful baby boy at 8:58 am. He was 7lbs 8oz and 24 inches long. The doctor arrived at 9:00 am to check on us, then left me again in the hands of the capable nurses who had handed my son to me for the first time.

I don’t remember what happened next except hearing my mom yell at the nurse, my husband taking the baby, and all of a sudden there were three nurses running around. It turns out the baby came too fast so my uterus didn’t contract properly and I was hemorrhaging. The next thing I remembered was being rolled down a hallway to the OR as a precaution. I felt like I was going to fall on my head.

As I stabilized after six bags of IV fluids being forced into my body and the doctor working quickly on sutures, I heard a nurse say, “Oh my God! Where’s the baby?!” They’d been so focused on me, they’d forgotten that my husband had taken the baby! I don’t remember anything else until I was woken up the next day for feeding time. That’s when I learned that Daddy had the baby and I’d been given 26 sutures. I was fine but couldn’t get out of bed for a week. After 7 days in hospital, lots of rest, wonderful nurses, and tons of gifts, we got to go home!

6 years later…

On February 14, 2006, only 7 days late, I woke up feeling contractions at 2:00 am. I woke my husband to call the hospital when they were approximately 3 minutes apart, and the nurse told us to come in immediately. When I got to the hospital, I was taken to the birthing room right away and assessed by the nurse at 2 cm dilated. The contractions continued and my husband and I waited. At 3:45 am, the nurse assessed me again and i was 4cm at this time. I told the nurse to call Dr. Jordan as per my plan with the doctor and due to my previous experience with hemorrhaging. The nurse laughed and said that there was plenty of time, but the next thing I knew, she was telling me not to push!

My husband was holding me and waiting for another nurse and the doctor on their way. By 3:53 am I had a beautiful baby girl Addison Lily measuring 7lbs 1oz and 16 inches long. At 4:10 am the doctor walked in, checked on the baby, kissed me on the forehead, and wasn’t seen again until morning rounds at 9:00 am.

This was the fastest, easiest birth ever! I didn’t push, I didn’t need a doctor, and I was released within 12 hours because we were both perfectly healthy!

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11 Comments

  • Oh my goodness! So glad your scary experience had a happy ending! And I bet you were so relieved with the second birth – also fast but no complications at all. Congratulations!!

  • The second birth must have seemed like a dream after the complications of the first. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂

  • I love this series! I always love hearing other’s birth stories. Mine was pretty easy…hoping the 2nd one will be too!!

  • So glad you shared your story with us. And I’m all glad you have two healthy children, although the road to that point must have been frightening.

  • That is scary! My daughter came too fast too, but this nurse notice, I wasn’t bleeding as I should and got that nurse to push really hard on my stomach and that did it.

  • What an experience! I can’t even imagine how scary your first birthing experience was. Thank goodness for patient spouses and extended family when you’re in a helpless situation. I’m so glad to hear that all turned well and that your second birth was a lot calmer (if not quicker). Thank you for sharing your story with us!

  • My first was also a precipitous birth. My water broke at 10:30am, first contraction about an hour later and my beautiful baby girl was born 2 hours later. Thankfully I didn’t hemorrhage!

  • It is very scary to hemorrhage. I know because it happened to me with my second child, a girl, and after a day-long labor. Fortunately, it happened just after the baby was born so my doctor was still there and, with the help of the nurses, the hemorrhaging stopped.
    I’m happy to hear that Karrie’s second child was so easy and non-threatening.