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Has anyone else experienced menopause just after having preemie twins? Or is just me? I had to have a peripartum hysterectomy after the birth of my preemie twins (a boy and a girl born C-Section at 28 weeks gestational age) due to a postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). The doctor told me that I had to have the operation or I would have died.
According to a survey by UKOSS, the UK Obstetric Surveillance System, the incidence of peripartum hysterectomy is 4 in 10,000 births (about 0.04% or 250 women a year in the UK). There is a strong association between hysterectomy and having a caesarean birth, and also between hysterectomy and multiple births. Having had a previous caesarean birth can increase the risk by 10 to 20 fold. The most common reason for having a hysterectomy following birth is because of placental problems such as placenta praevia and placenta accreta. (Source: ThirdStageofLabour.org).
So now, here I am only 27, and experiencing all the glorious menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and extreme mood swings. Add that to my post-partum depression and having twin babies in the NICU, and I’m one depressed mama! I think the worst part is knowing that I won’t be able to have any more children as I’ve always wanted a big family.
Luckily, there is the internet providing me with a vast full of information and support that helps me know I am not alone. I frequent forums and websites, such as GotMenopause routinely so I don’t feel so alone. I hate being so young, yet feeling so old (my mother hasn’t even went through menopause yet).
So I would love to hear from other moms that had to have a hysterectomy when they didn’t want one, especially from those that had to have one right after the birth of their baby (or babies). Leave a comment so we can sympathize! ~ Whitney