This post is off on a bit of a tangent but something i feel quite strongly about. Grace was emptying the cards out of Nick's wallet at the weekend and as i was trying to retrieve all of the important ones from her she handed me his blood donor card. I have never given blood despite the best of intentions. I have a bit of a needle phobia and was trying to overcome this so that i could but unfortunately i was on medication for quite a while that prevented me from doing so and by the time that was out of my system long enough i was pregnant. If it hadn't been for some other wonderful people out there who did give blood that pregnancy would have ended with me dead and my baby daughter left without her mum.

The birth of my daughter was a string of rare complications. My pelvis is the wrong shape for getting a baby out so my labour failed to progress. The failure to progress lead to a constriction band forming around my uterus and trapping Grace by her shoulders. This was discovered during the emergency c-section. I also have severe endometriosis. One of the results of this is that some of my internal organs are fused together with scar tissue. When they opened me up they had to detach my bladder from my uterus before they could get Grace out. Endometriosis causes the tissues around it to become brittle. When they made the insiscion in my uterus, which had to be extended because she was stuck, it tore most of the way around and detached the main artery to the uterus. I lost 3.5 litres of blood in a very short space of time. My poor husband watched the whole thing while he sat with our new baby girl. I am blood type A-, not the rarest but not the most common either. There was none in the hopsital. It had to be flown in from elsewhere. Nine units of blood products later and i was beginning to feel a bit more alive and with help was able to nurse my baby.

It has taken me quite a while to come to terms with what happened but i can now focus on the positive outcome. Most of all i am incredibly grateful to everyone who gives blood because someone out there saved my life and allowed me to know my beautiful daughter. I can't give blood now because i have had a transfusion but if one person reads my story and is inspired to give blood as a result then at least i have achieved something positive that way.

Please, please if you can, do.