‘The scariest thing I’ve ever been through’: Mum-of-seven Rachael Glynn’s deadly pregnancy
This mum’s seventh childbirth was unlike any she had experienced before. Here, she recalls the life-threatening moment that shocked the delivery room.
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After experiencing a life-threatening uterine tear giving birth, Rachael Glynn was told having another child could kill her and the baby.
Seven years later Rachael faced that possibility when she discovered she was pregnant again.
“My first reaction was fear,” the 38-year-old told The Advertiser.
“I was so upset because I was worried about myself, but not only that … if I can’t have the baby then I have to terminate and that in itself is just a hard thing to have to go through as well.”
In 2015 Rachael, who lives in Mount Gambier, was scheduled to have a planned C-section to give birth to her sixth child Sophie, but the day before she went into labour at home.
“Moments before getting underway they (doctors) realised something was drastically wrong with Sophie,” she said.
“They put me to sleep, cut me open and as they got down to my uterus wall, they could see Sophie through it.
“My uterus had actually torn open by itself, had it been a few moments later both Sophie and I could have lost our lives then.
“With a uterine tear, your uterus literally tears open and the baby inside can literally fall out of the tear and then it’s just resting in your abdomen.”
Sophie was delivered and Rachael’s uterus was repaired but she was warned to never have anymore children.
“My uterus was in no shape to do that again,” she said.
But seven years later she discovered she was pregnant with Austin.
Rachael decided she would speak to a doctor before making any decisions about the future of her pregnancy.
“Ultimately I was going to go with whatever the doctor had told me to do … if she said ‘this is super dangerous you need to not do this’ that’s what I would’ve done,” she said.
After an appointment with “a fantastic doctor” Rachael felt supported to go through the extremely high-risk pregnancy after they discussed the plan.
The then 36-year-old had to have ultrasounds every two weeks and bed rest in the final trimester.
“Because of her (her doctor) I decided I’m going to do this, I’m going to carry the baby and we’re gonna see how we go,” she said.
The mum-of-seven said her pregnancy with Austin was “the scariest thing (she’s) ever been through”.
“I couldn’t find a story of a woman successfully carrying another child after a previous rupture,” she said.
“I read some horror stories … one woman went into hospital with her baby’s legs actually on the outside of the uterus.”
Having had six pregnancies before Austin’s, Rachael said she was used to certain “aches and pains” but with Austin each pain reminded her of the possibility she could lose him and herself.
“I was constantly worried,” she said.
“I could never do it again … it was just too scary. My pregnancy wasn’t fun and it wasn’t nice for me because it was scary.”
Austin was born on December 16 2022 via C-section. After he was born Rachael made the decision to have her fallopian tubes removed to eliminate any possibility of conceiving again.
“I’m a mum of seven so having my fallopian tubes removed, says ‘you can never get pregnant ever again’, that was really hard for me,” she said.
“But it makes Austin that much more special.”
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Originally published as ‘The scariest thing I’ve ever been through’: Mum-of-seven Rachael Glynn’s deadly pregnancy
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