I would have died giving birth if I wasn’t a rich Western model

Posted by mija on Nov 20, 2010 in News | 0 comments

Settling back into plump pillows to feed her newborn baby, with actor husband Edward Burns at her side, supermodel Christy Turlington was in a state of elation after the birth of her first child, Grace.
She had delivered naturally, without even the need of pain relief.
Everything had gone according to plan – or so she thought.
In fact, Christy was quickly developing a life-threatening complication that affects one in 20 British women.
The placenta had become embedded into her uterus wall, causing her to bleed heavily, and this potential tragedy, which happened to Christy seven years ago in a New York birthing centre, effectively reshaped the rest of her life.
Thanks to swift medical intervention, she survived, but many women are not so fortunate. About 1,000 deaths worldwide each day are attributed to bleeding after birth, also known as postpartum haemorrhage (PPH).
Realising just how lucky she was to have narrowly missed becoming a maternal mortality statistic, Christy – who has been the face of Calvin Klein, Maybelline and Versace – immersed herself in humanitarian issues, campaigning to get the best care for pregnant women in poverty-stricken circumstances who do not have the quality of care she received.
‘I had a perfect pregnancy with Grace,’ says Christy, 41. ‘Your first child is unknown territory. You don’t know how your body will deal with what’s going on, so I was very careful to look after myself.
‘But I was lucky because everything was straightforward. I had some cravings, mainly for avocados and lemonade. I cannot remember how much weight I put on but it was not too much or too little, and I was lucky enough not to suffer any morning sickness. I thoroughly enjoyed the pregnancy.
‘Ed and I agreed that we wanted to have our baby in a birthing centre attached to St Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital near our home in New York City.
‘We talked to the obstetrician there who would be with us in the event of an emergency. After giving us a tour of the centre, he said, “Don’t worry – you’ll most likely never see me again.” Famous last words.’
Christy had considered having a water birth but the birthing centre did not offer this because of possible hygiene problems. The couple were told that if they were set on this type of birth, they would have to hire a birthing pool at home. They decided against it which, as it turned out, was just as well.
The baby was due on October 8, 2003, four months after Christy and Ed, 42, were married. But the baby did not arrive on time.
‘I was not in the least bit worried because I know everyone’s different and doesn’t deliver to order in the 40th week,’ she says.
‘You can be ready to go from 38 to 42 weeks – the due date you are given by the doctor or midwife is only an approximation. The only thing that worried me was that if I went over 42 weeks, I may have been sent from the birthing centre to a regular medical hospital to be induced.
‘Or, as doctors in the U.S. are so very fond of C-sections (a caesarean, when the baby is born via incisions in the abdomen), there was a good chance that I could be told I needed one – and I didn’t want to go down that route either.’
But Christy’s contractions began at exactly 42 weeks. The couple stayed at their New York apartment for ten hours until her waters broke and then went to the birthing centre.
After two more hours, Christy gave birth without wanting or needing any pain relief, gas or air.
Grace weighed in at 8lb 7oz and her mother says: ‘She was absolutely perfect. The whole experience was perfect. I thought I could happily do it over and over again. The staff looking after me came in and checked on us every so often but I hardly noticed what was going on around me as I was totally preoccupied with my new daughter and my husband.’
It was only 45 minutes after the birth, when Christy had not delivered the placenta – the organ that attaches the growing foetus to the uterine wall delivering blood containing nutrients and oxygen – that her midwife became concerned.
Failure to deliver some or all of the placenta is the cause of PPH in 80 per cent of cases. Normally, within 20 minutes of birth the placenta comes away and is naturally passed out of the birth canal, and the uterus contracts, closing off the blood vessels.
But in some cases it does not separate and the uterus cannot contract properly, so the blood vessels inside continue to bleed.
Gunter Rienhardt, consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at Spire Hospital, Southampton and Southampton NHS Trust, says: ‘PPH is the loss of more than half a litre of blood. Causes include a uterus which is too relaxed and does not contract, and a tear or injury to the uterus during childbirth. Infection, forceps delivery or caesarean section can also raise the risk.
‘Fortunately, the UK death rate is pretty low as treatment is fairly straightforward.’
First-line treatment is to manually remove the placenta, followed by massage that causes the uterus to contract. Blood transfusions and medication are often required.
‘Our obstetrician was called as after almost an hour I still hadn’t delivered the placenta,’ says Christy.
‘He said he would have to remove it by hand. The procedure must be done quickly – there is no time for painkillers. The placenta has to be torn away and the doctor needs to make sure there is nothing left inside, as this can cause infections.
‘It was an excruciatingly painful experience. The delivery of Grace was nothing compared to it and I’d had no pain relief then either.
‘There was a lot of bleeding, but what happened was nobody’s fault. My doctor and his team were fantastic.’
The bleeding slowed and had stopped by the following morning so Christy was able to go home to recover.
‘I ate plenty of iron-rich food such as lentils and spinach and took an iron supplement. I was incredibly weak, having lost so much blood.’
Despite the lingering memory of what could have been a tragedy, three years later Christy put her faith in the skill of the medical professionals and went on to have a son, Finn, who is now four.
However, she was shocked when, in 2005 and six-and-a-half months pregnant with Finn, she visited San Salvador in South America with her mother, who was born there.
The trip had a huge impact on Christy when she discovered that PPH contributes to the majority of maternal deaths around the developing world.
‘I met pregnant women who had walked miles for many hours just to get clean water,’ she says.
‘If they are lucky enough to be driven to a hospital to give birth, it can take three hours across rough terrain. Meanwhile, I live in downtown Manhattan and could take a cab to my beautiful, clean birthing centre.
‘On a later trip to Peru I visited clinics and hospitals where medical teams had been able to cut maternal death rates by using low-cost solutions – simply encouraging women to access local healthcare services rather than choose to give birth at home saved many lives.
‘The charity CARE had managed to halve the maternal mortality in one town.
‘I found this so inspiring that I decided the best way to bring these stories to the developed world was to make a documentary, No Woman, No Cry, which I filmed over a year in Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala and the U.S. to raise awareness.
‘The fact is 90 per cent of these maternal deaths are preventable.’
An advocate for maternal health, Christy is spearheading the Every Mother Counts campaign to combat unnecessary deaths during childbirth.
Christy is all too aware of how privileged she is. Having been a model from the age of 14, she admits: ‘I didn’t know what it was like to be normal.’
But she says she has always been far more interested in health matters – she did a masters in public health when she was 25 – than worrying about her looks.
She is about to visit Guatemala for her charity work and, although she still accepts modelling jobs, it is obvious where her heart really lies.
‘With every passing year I feel more fulfilled,’ she says. ‘I am only just coming into a phase of my life where I can say that I really feel passionate about what I do because I know how lucky I was not to become just another maternal mortality statistic.’
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