Katie Holly was left with only half a teacup of her natural blood in her system
the balance. But, as quickly as blood was transfused into me, I would lose it again.
“The medical team even set up a blood-saving device to collect my own blood and transfuse it back into me.”
Katie Holly insists mums need to be more aware of the fact repeated C-sections can lead to a heightened risk of placenta percreta.
“My four children were delivered by caesarean section yet I was never told of the complications repeated surgery can pose in terms of placenta percreta,” claims Katie Holly.
The delivery – and subsequent treatment – was carried out at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, due to its proximity to where husband Mark was working at the time.
“They saved my life,” Katie Holly says. “But other mothers have died.”
A shocking one in four mothers now has her baby delivered by caesarean section in the UK, despite calls by the government to cut back numbers.
In Scottish hospitals – according to figures released last year – almost a third of babies are now born by the
method of surgical intervention.
Katie Holly points to the nightmare of young London mum Ana-Maria Chammas, 33, who died four weeks after giving birth to her baby.
She required 65 pints of blood after suffering the birth complication back in 1999.
A report in the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology International warns the condition “is a severe pregnancy complication and is currently the most common indication for peripartum (after childbirth) hysterectomy”.
The report adds: “It is becoming an increasingly common complication mainly due to the increasing rate of caesarean delivery.”
The condition is the number one reason for women having their womb removed after childbirth.
Now, as Katie Holly prepares to celebrate little Lucas’s first birthday, she’s also set her sights on raising awareness around the condition.
She added: “I survived through luck more than anything else and never want any other mum to go through the same.”
Last night a spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists said women giving consent to a caesarean section should understand the risks associated, especially “in terms of massive obstetric haemorrhage, the need for blood transfusion and the chance of hysterectomy”.
A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The risk of haemorrhage with this type of surgery is well known and it is our usual practice for this to be discussed in some detail with the patient.”