Latest news with #placentalabruption
News.com.au
5 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
‘Risk of injury': Do you need to stop driving while pregnant?
I was heavily pregnant and running late. Then I hit a pothole – hard. For a moment I felt like I was auditioning for Fast & Furious: Prenatal Drif t. Cue panic. I pulled over and Googled: 'Driving over pothole pregnancy'. The results? Terrifying. Phrases like 'placental abruption', 'seek immediate care', and 'avoid at all costs', jumped out at me. Could one bump in the road, at low speed, really put my baby at risk? Thankfully, no. 'There is no evidence that going over speed bumps or potholes at low, reasonable speeds harms the foetus,' says Associate Professor Stefan Kane, director of maternity services at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne. 'There is no data linking this to miscarriage or preterm labour at normal speeds.' But the real danger lies elsewhere. 'Sadly, motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of trauma-related maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality,' says Associate Professor Kane. 'Risk of injury increases during the second and third trimesters … However, proper seatbelt use significantly reduces the risk of the baby dying in crashes.' Yet many pregnant drivers don't wear their seatbelts properly. Obstetrician Dr Guy Skinner often sees women pushing the sash belt up high behind them, thinking it's safer or more comfortable for the bump. 'There's no point wearing a seatbelt if it hasn't done its primary thing and that's to slow the human body from hitting the dashboard or seat in front of you,' he says. And those maternity seatbelt adjusters sold online? Remove from cart! The advice is to use a normal seatbelt properly. Associate Professor Sjaan Koppel from the Monash University Accident Research Centre explains the right way to buckle up: 'The lap belt should be placed below the baby bump, snugly across the pelvis and upper thighs. Never across or above the abdomen,' she says. 'The shoulder (sash) belt should run between the breasts and over the collarbone. Not under the arm or behind the back. Ensure the belt is flat and not twisted.' Beyond seatbelts, Dr Skinner says one of the most common questions he gets is: When should I stop driving? Back in the day, it was common advice to stop driving after around 32–34 weeks because steering wheels didn't retract, and bumps didn't fit behind them. Now, if you're carrying a single baby, it's usually safe to drive right up to the end of pregnancy. Multiples? You're more likely to be benched by 32 to 34 weeks, due to spatial logistics. And what about airbags? Contrary to some fears, they're safe and protective, as long as your bump isn't pressed right up against the wheel. Low-speed crashes, such as carpark fender-benders or knocking into poles, are surprisingly common during pregnancy. 'We see them every three to four weeks,' Dr Skinner says. 'It's probably due to some change in concentration in pregnant women.' He claims minor bingles at low speed (under 20 km/h) are unlikely to cause concern. So, while a pothole won't send you into labour, experts say pregnancy can change the way we drive, and not always for the better. If it means easing into the Driving Miss Daisy era a little early? It might be the safest move, for mum and bub.
Daily Mail
05-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
I was told by my midwife that my baby and I were going to die...then I woke up in the delivery room alone
A Sydney mum has shared the terrifying moment she woke up alone after being told she and her baby were going to die during labour. Ruby Nichols, 25, suffered a placental abruption while giving birth to her three-year-old son Kobi, and after being put to sleep while doctors rushed to save her life, she woke up alone, believing her baby had died. The single mum, who lives in Sutherland Shire, 26km southwest of Sydney's CBD, recalled her traumatic birth story to Daily Mail Australia. 'When I was 41 weeks and five days, I went into labour,' she said. 'I hadn't experienced any Braxton Hicks throughout my whole pregnancy so I wasn't sure if I was in labour at first. 'But within 20 minutes my contractions were a minute long and like five minutes apart. They were strong and fast.' Ms Nichols remembered asking herself: 'How am I going to survive this?' After getting to the hospital, the mum recalled holding onto the sink in the bathroom and swaying back and forth when the midwife came to check on her son's heartbeat. 'We could hear it was non-existent and my mum's face just went white, the midwife's face went white and she just hit the emergency buzzer,' she said. Ms Nichols suddenly felt an immense release of pressure and assumed her waters had broken, but when she looked down all she could see was blood. Doctors told Ms Nichols she needed a Caesarean and despite initially wanting a water birth, all she cared about was making sure she and her baby were safe. She explained her son's dad, who she is no longer in a relationship with, was getting ready to come into theatre while she was having her blood pressure measured and a cannula inserted into her arm. 'I was still having contractions at this point and I started feeling really dizzy and I couldn't see the room straight and my arm was burning,' she recalled. 'My arm was swollen and pulsating, and then I was told my blood pressure was dropping and they needed to move along quickly. 'I just wanted my partner and I kept asking, "Can I please have him, where is he?" And then this nurse turned to me and said, "You and your son are both gonna die". Terrifyingly, this is the last thing Ms Nichols remembers before being put to sleep. 'The hardest thing for me was that I woke up in a room by myself, all I could remember was being told that my son and I were gonna die, but obviously I woke up so I knew I was alive but I have there's no baby,' she said. The mum explained she struggled to speak when she first woke up as she had been given ketamine during the birth to sedate her. 'I was trying to scream, "Where is my baby?" but I couldn't vocalise anything,' she said. After 'what felt like 15 minutes' she 'started yelling' when she saw a nurse walk by asking, 'Is he dead?' Ms Nichols was told her baby was upstairs with his dad. 'I remember losing it and saying, "Take me to my baby right now",' the mum recalled, noting she was told she had to wait for a porter to collect her, but she refused to wait a second longer. 'I told her, "I will literally rip this catheter out of myself and walk up there by myself, take me to my baby right now". The single mum noted from the time her son was born to the time she met him was around four hours. 'The recovery nurses were incredible, they were really great and supportive, but the thing that always upset me the most was that I woke up by myself and they did not attempt to do any skin-to-skin, which is so important,' she added. She said she's 'forever grateful' to the medical team, but the 'trauma' and 'fear that I had woke up without him was so terrifying'. 'If a nurse is going to vocalise something as horrible as that or even the trauma in general then someone should've made sure when I woke up I had a familiar face with me,' Ms Nichols said. After sharing her story with her midwife in the months following the birth, Ms Nichols was encouraged to make a complaint to the hospital. 'I am fully aware that when you are in a state of emergency and it is life or death, you're not thinking how can I comfort this person? You're just trying to get them to live and their baby to live. 'The part that I was raising my concern with was the fact that I woke up by myself in a pitch-black room with no familiar face after I've been told we weren't going to make it.' The Sydney hospital reached out to Ms Nichols and apologised, adding that they have taken her concerns on board.
