blood tranfusions

Hi everyone.
I keep reading about loosing alot of blood during delivery with twins..
I had a vaginal delivery with my daughter. I am not sure if this is just with a twin delivery.. I am hoping to do a vaginal again. I am scared of a c-section. If I have to of course I will.
I do not want to get blood from the hospital. DOes anyone know anything about this first hand... Do you need blood during either a vaginal or c-section? if so, did you give your own blood before you delivered?
thanks

 

Hi everyone.
I keep reading about loosing alot of blood during delivery with twins..
I had a vaginal delivery with my daughter. I am not sure if this is just with a twin delivery.. I am hoping to do a vaginal again. I am scared of a c-section. If I have to of course I will.
I do not want to get blood from the hospital. DOes anyone know anything about this first hand... Do you need blood during either a vaginal or c-section? if so, did you give your own blood before you delivered?
thanks

 

my best friend had twins by csection - she was d/c from the hospital and then was bleeding alot at home, so she went back in and had a transfusion - she used the blood at the hospital...her ob said the bleeding was b/c her uterus was so stretched out that the blood was pooling - she is fine today

 

I had an emergency C-section and had to have two blood transfusions. If I know it was going to happen, I would have banked blood or had relatives do so. However, I felt pretty comfortable getting the blood as they test it so thoroughly now days.

 

I needed blood after my last c-section, I hemorhaged pretty bad but what happened to me was not all that common. I did lose a good amount after my first 2 sections but not enough for a transfusion. Looking back now, I should have taken the transfusion after the girls, my recovery was so much harder and I ended up with more complications, not to mention the complete exhaustion and barely being able to walk. I was so dizzy too, it was so hard to even walk down teh hall. Even now Im anemic and this is 8 months later. I was on so much iron afterwards and my peri was begging to readmit me to do the transfusion but I was too stubborn.

Now that being said, we had planned on dh and FIL giving blood prior to delivery but both of them never got around to it. They wont let you give blood while pregnant but if your dh or a close family member that you trust is willing to, you can ask the Red Cross to specifically hold the blood for you at the hospital you deliver at just in case.

 

This really is such a case by case situation but to share my experience, I delivered both ways and did not receive a transfusion. Honestly, it was not something I even thought about before delivery. Gosh, there is just soo many worries isn't there???

 

I lost a lot of blood - but did not need a transfusion after my c-section. make sure you take your vitamins faithfully - I felt like I
had been hit by a truck for the 1st 2 weeks - they did give me extra iron capsules to take - but it took a while for them to get in my system!!

good luck and try not to worry to much!!

 

thanks for all of your replies.. I know I worry to much.. I can't help it.. I wish I could change.. I just read to much and hear to many horror stories.
thanks again!

 

I asked my OB about the chances of a transfusion the other day, and she say she had NEVER had to give anyone a transfusion. Granted she's not a specialists that delievers tons of twins, and it would probably be more of a chance with multiples, but it still seems pretty uncommon. She did tell me to start taking the iron pills now, though, because you will lose a lot of blood.

Like the pp said, the screening process these days for blood is so thorough, I wouldn't worry about it even it I did need a transfusion.

 

I also wouldn't worry about getting blood from the hospital, but if it's a concern for you there's no harm in having a friend or family member donate ahead of time. If you don't have to use it, it could help someone else out anyway. I haven't really looked into the chances of needing transfusions with twin deliveries, but I suppose there could be a higher probability than with singletons. I had no problems with my singleton birth, but when I delivered (and lost) my twin girls last time I did hemorrhage. I don't know how many times they kept checking my blood...I guess I was pretty close to needing a transfusion but thankfully didn't. I think part of it was because it was a premature birth, though. The placenta did not want to come out and I was about 2 minutes away from having to be put under and rushed to the OR to get it out (as I was bleeding so much). At that point I pushed with all I had while I manually pushed on my stomach to get that darn placenta to come out. Thankfully, it worked.

Anyway try not to stress over something you have little control over. Make sure your iron levels are good before delivery...whether you need to take supplements or not.

 

My friend who just delivered twins lost triple the normal amount of blood and didn't need a transfusion (they thought she would for a while but she ended up fine). If you are worried, a family member or friend can donate it and have it earmarked for you (at least where I went). My DH was a huge blood donor (can't now due to meds) and I believe you get dibs on the blood you donate for a certain period after the donation.

 

I didn't need blood (only lost about a liter) but I did talk beforehand with my peri about directed donations. He said I was welcome to do it if I liked (and I did) but that it wasn't any safer and was a lot more troublesome than to just take what was available. He also said that if I delivered in an emergency situation and needed blood, that I would get whatever was most readily available regardless of the directed donation. My sister donates regularly and we have the same blood type, so she tagged it for me and when I didn't use it, it went into the general supply. I had to send a form from the blood bank to my peri, but that wasn't too challenging.

I didn't think you could donate if you were pregnant, so I don't think you could donate for yourself.