I was induced for labour with my daughter Kitty in Antrim Hospital in July 2015. During the delivery I lost a great deal of blood. Basically they thought they had stopped the bleed but I was in excruciating pain and after several hours it came to light that they had just blocked the bleed rather than stop it – therefore my body was filling with blood.
I was rushed to theatre where I was told I had lost 3.5 litres of blood and I needed an emergency transfusion before they could operate. Initially they thought they were going to have to perform a hysterectomy but thankfully this wasn’t the case.
I was given the transfusion and the necessary operation was carried out. I have no idea how much blood I received but my consultant told me it was a considerable amount and I was very lucky.
Without the blood I had received I would not be here today and Kitty would not have had a mummy.
I always knew that donating blood was important but not until it saved my life did I think about it as much. My husband has since started donating blood and will continue to do so.
Thank you to all the blood donors out there who saved me and let me be a mummy to baby Kitty and then baby Freddie.