Prevention of the life-threatening condition placenta accreta

Placenta Accreta Video

"Miracle Mom," Gina Walker on Today Show

Gina Walker - CEO & Founder of the Hope for Accreta Foundation

Overcomers of Placenta Accreta

The journey to survival is not an easy one, there are many bumps in the roads. We are overcomers! 

Sarah's Story - Accreta in a first risk free pregnancy.

38 Weeks

My partner (now my husband) and I were very surprised and yet excited to find out that we were pregnant with our son Henry. We were not planning to become parents yet, but we were thrilled nonetheless! I had such an easy start to my pregnancy that I didn’t realize I was pregnant until I was 10 weeks along! I had an incredibly easy pregnancy, and my partner and I even travelled to England when I was 33 weeks pregnant (returned at 36 weeks) to visit his family over Christmas 2011.  As things were going so well, we were very excited to deliver our son at home along with our midwife Erin. I was confident that Henry’s birth was going to be a very peaceful and beautiful experience.

At 38 weeks pregnant, I began to have some incredibly difficult pains. I was reassured that these pains were normal in the later weeks of pregnancy, but I was surprised by how awful I felt. I was cramping a lot, and felt nauseous most of the time. At 39 weeks exactly (Feb 14^th), I begged my midwife to do a stretch and sweep (S&S) to encourage labour to begin. I was ready to “get this baby out”! As soon as the S&S was done, I began to feel the beginnings of what would be labour.  My midwife was concerned about my Fundal (uterus) height during this visit, so she actually sent me to get an ultrasound. Everything came back normal, including the placenta, so I was sent home and continued to labour at home. Things were progressing well, and by 9pm my midwife arrived. As the pains began to get increasingly worse with no real progression, my midwife suggested that we make the difficult trek to the hospital. It was 3am and I felt defeated and was devastated, but was in no mood to argue. We began to pack a hospital bag in between my contractions, which I now realize should have already been packed just in case!

We arrived at the hospital, and I laboured relatively well for another 3.5 hours. I wanted to have our son naturally, and after pushing for 3 hours, Henry James Machin was born at 10:35am on Feb 15^th, 2012. He was born unconscious & was revived by the pediatric nurses after a few tense minutes! My mother, my partner and my very good friend were all present for his birth.

We had decided on active management of the third stage, so I was given a shot of synthetic oxytocin after the delivery of my son, to assist with the removal of the placenta. My midwives waited for about 45 minutes for the placenta to deliver. During this time, the midwives noticed that I was loosing a little more blood than normal, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from. One midwife tried to traction the umbilical cord gently, but this seemed to increase the bleeding. They encouraged me to squat on the bed and try to push out the placenta, but an incredible gush of blood came out. The midwives called for an immediate transfer to an Obstetrical team. Two residents and the Head of Obstetrics were on call. I was then given a shot of Nitril (to relax the uterus) and Demerol (for pain relief…not so much!), before both residents and the Head of OB attempted 3 failed manual removals of the placenta. That was the worst pain of my life. I had lost so much blood by this point that I began to pass out. My midwife tried to engage me in conversation, but it was almost as if I had forgotten how to speak. I also have been told that I was as white as a sheet, and the decision was made to rush me into the OR for an emergency removal of my placenta. I had started to go into hemorrhagic shock, and could not stop shaking. I remember my mother running beside the gurney, and I remember saying to her “If I die, please take care of Henry”. These words still bring tears to my eyes when I think of them. My blood pressure was called out at 58/30, which is dangerously low. The last thing I remember in the OR is how tingly my arm felt when they started my first emergency blood transfusion. I was later told that the Anesthesiologist needed to administer norepinephrine, in order to regulate my heart pressure as I had severe hypotension (low blood pressure).

Recovery Suite

I woke up in the recovery room, I believe around 4:30pm. I had been in surgery for about 4 hours. I had been intubated during my surgery and my throat was painfully dry. I could not sit up, as I would begin to pass out, so I remained flat on my back for a few hours. This was the first time I was able to spend any time with my son. He was laid beside me in the hospital bed. At around 10:30pm, my vitals were stable enough that I could be moved to a regular maternity room.

Maternity Ward.

Over the next few days, I was monitored for my blood pressure, hemoglobin levels and temperature to make sure that I had no infections. I received 4 units of blood all together. Two units during my surgery and another two units in the days following as I recovered. I will forever be grateful to those four people who donated blood in order to save my life. I have been told that I lost approximately 2.5-3 litres of blood during the hemorrhage. I had an undiagnosed Placenta Accreta, and I am proud to say that I am a survivor!

Infant and Pregnancy Loss - Babies We Honour You.

Placenta Previa and Accreta, are life threatening conditions for both Mothers and Babies. While the journey of these pregnancy conditions is stressful and can be heartbreaking, being separated from family and friend, feeling like a like a ticking time bomb,  doing what you can in the hope to give your precious baby more time to grow, get strong, and flourish. However there are situations we can't prevent. Labours that can't be stopped, and for many many reasons we can't carry our blessings to term.

These babies are just as much a part of us as all of our others, and we would do what ever we could to have them here and watch them grow. This is a page to honour those babies that didn't make it.  If you have lost a baby in the journey of placenta previa, and or placenta accreta, we want to honour that baby.  Sharing a photo, picture, name, phrase that speaks to you.

- If you want to add your baby please email me at 

cmathewson.hfa.aus.nz@gmail.com

WHO - World Donor Day

WHO - World blood donator day, is quickly coming up.  

The theme for this year is.............

                    "Safe blood for Saving mothers" 

Many women with Accreta will need a blood transfusion to save their lives, so that they can be here on the other side.  The average transfusion for an Accreta mother is 8 units- around 4 litres of blood. Many however will need much more than that.  I myself needed 54 Units and 80 blood products from around 134 donations.  Without that gift of safe blood I would not be here today to enjoy my baby growing up.  WHO Donor day is a time to for us who have received to help give back, by saying a big 'thank you' to all those that have generously given. 

If you, like me, have a received the gift of blood donation and want to be a part of giving back to donors this World Blood Donor Day, then send an email: hfa.canada@gmail.com  

"Safe blood for saving mothers"

The focus for this year’s campaign is “Safe blood for saving mothers”. The campaign will increase awareness about why timely access to safe blood and blood products is essential for all countries as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent maternal deaths.

WHO encourages all countries and national and international partners working on blood transfusion and maternal health to develop an activity plan to highlight the need for timely access to safe blood and blood products in the prevention of maternal deaths.

WHO/O. O’Hanlon

Activities may include commemorative events, meetings, publication / dissemination of relevant stories on media outlets, scientific conferences, publication of articles on national, regional and international scientific journals, and other activities that would help in promoting the theme of this year’s World Blood Donor Day (WBDD).

Background information

Every year, on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The event raises awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.

Every day, about 800 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. Almost all of these deaths occur in developing countries. More than half of them occur in sub-Saharan Africa and almost one third in South Asia. The risk of maternal mortality is highest for adolescent girls under 15 years of age.

Severe bleeding during delivery and after childbirth is a major cause of mortality, morbidity and long-term disability. However, access to safe and sufficient blood and blood products and the rational and safe use of blood transfusion still remain major challenges in many countries around the world.

The objectives of this year’s global campaign

• Ministries of health, particularly in countries with high rates of maternal mortality, to take concrete steps towards ensuring that health facilities in their countries improve access to safe blood and blood products from volunteer donors for women giving birth.
• National blood services in countries with high rates of maternal mortality to focus on safe blood for mothers in their activities and products for the 2014 campaign.
• Maternal health programmes and partnerships engage in the 2014 campaign.
• WHO and partners throughout the world highlight ." - World Health Organisation

Don't forget if you would like to help, or be a face for the International Hope for Accreta Blood Drive in  January 2015, please let us know. We look forward to hearing from you. 

- Christina Mathewson