will this happen again?

[ragdollismyname]

Just wondering if anyone out there has had a similar experience to me and did it happen second time round?

We are thinking about ttc soon but i'm quite anxious after an eventful birth last time.

I was induced at 35 weeks due to pre-eclampsia, the labour went fine, only four hours and dd was out in 3 pushes!! However,that's when the trouble started, i began bleeding heavily, the doctor kneaded my stomach (ie putting all his weight on me and pushing down) he tried stitching me even though i only had grazes but to no avail. After an hour of this and me begging him to stop and approx 15 people in the room doing different things they put me under general anaesthetic and took me to theatre where they discovered i had some retained placenta. I had lost three litres of blood and had to stay on labour ward for 2 days until i recovered enough to be sent to post-natal.

Just wondering if the blood loss and/or retained placenta could have been due to pre-eclampsia or being induced and whether it's likely to happen again next time.

Any advice or personal experiences would be appreciated, thanks.

Induction raises the risk of retained placenta. Here's some medical info on 3rd stage management: www.nda.ox.ac.uk/wfsa/html/u19/u1915_01.htm

Your doctor should have been aware of this.

hello ragdoll.

i was induced 42 weeks simular expierience to you, 4 hours in labour 3 pushes and my son was out, then started bleeding bad although id been getting quite alot of blood during contractions. it eventually slowed down and stopped. lost over 2 litres of blood. but then 4 weeks later heamorrhaged again, and went to hospital to find out i had a very infected womb due to after birth been left in me. had to take 30 tablets a day. ive just found out im preg again and petrified

thanks japhrimel i will def check that out. My doctor came round the next day to explain that they had to 'roll' my stomach even though i was begging him to stop. Think he thought i was going to try and sue him or something!! That was the only thing he said to me though, so whether he was aware of that i don't know.

Beckie it's good to know im not the only one scared of what could happen next time. Really hope everthing goes ok for you this time. I will be checking out your posts to see how you get on. good luck!!! x

I think preeclampsia increases the risk, I too had a PPH after being induced for it, although mine was due to tears. More info here -

www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Post-partum-Haemorrhage-%28PPH%29.htm

when i was preg i always had quite low blood pressure and then at 30 weeks it sky rocketed, and i also had protein in my urine and was constantly dizzy, they kept me night and then released me never checked me out after that or take anymore urine samples, my mum also had it with me, it makes me wonder if i actually had it but went un noticed because they couldnt be botherd with me.
and thankyou ragdoll, i hope it does too im terrified im gonna die, sounds stupid i know

I had PPH after my first birth and was in high dependency for 2 days with a saline filled balloon in my uterus to try and stem the bleeding. I too am worried it will happen again and I am pregnant again and at 28 weeks the birth is looming. I discussed with my consultant (I will give birth at a different hospital) and we agreed I would obtain my maternity notes from the previous hospital and we could go through them together. At least this may offer me some closure, allow my consultant to understand what exactly happened and why and try and offer me some reassurances. Maybe you could do the same. You may prefer to not know the precise details but I think for me I need to understand more about what happened so I can move on.

thanks happygilmore it does seem like pre-eclampsia increases the risk. Its more common in first pregnancies so hopefully we'll all b ok next time. Beckie it sounds like u had a terrible time being ignored throughout as well. Everyone was lovely the whole way through with me which made it a bit easier. Although my baby was in scbu for 2wks afterwards and it was slightly unnerving when docs n nurses kept saying hi and telling me how much better i looked when i was jus thinkin 'iv never seen you before in my life'. They'd obviously had a good look at me though!!

okiecokie no wonder you are scared about next time after what you went through. I think its a really good idea to go through your previous notes, at least that way you can hopefully get an action plan together for this time. Knowledge is power! I have read about people requesting their previous notes on here before and always wondered how easy it would be to do it. I think id find it helpful because i was so spaced out at the time that nearly all the stuff i know about it comes from my dp. I remember signing the consent form for a hysterectomy if necessary though. Scary stuff! Keep us updated with your progress and best wishes for this time x

sorry to hijack but my doctor 'kneaded' my stomach too, I thought they always did this, but did he do it for another reason?

i think they do it just to get the placenta out, thats why in my case anyway. I hated it and found it worse than contractions and pushing because he was inflicting that pain on me rather than it coming from my own body if that makes sense. Did you have an alright birth?

Yeah I found it quite painful too. Not really, was induced at 36 weeks had waters broken hormone drip then failed ventouse and ended up with forceps lost about 600mls of blood, they didn't seem worried about it though

I am not sure if this will help as it was a long time ago!

My mother was induced with me and, although labour was fine, she bled a lot afterwards and finally stopped bleeding after losing approx 3 pints.

After she left hospital, she continued to bleed very heavily and when she went to her GP, he told her it was normal lochia... 5 weeks later she collapsed and was rushed to hospital afetr very severe haemmoraging (sp - sorry) and finally had an operation to remove retained placenta.

Anyway, the point is that my mum went on to have 3 more children. All three of her next labours were a complete dream, no bleeding afterwards (normal lochia for a few days) and no retained placenta. She thinks it was a combination of bad luck and a mis-managed induction. And when I say her next labours were a dream... I REALLY mean it. My brothers and sister literally popped out with my mother needing no pain relief at all. My mum was up and about (and at home!) within 8 hours of all of the births, so no bleeding problems at all!

legally that is reassuring, thanks. I have put in for a dream birth this time

Ragdoll it is pretty easy to get a copy of the notes. Check your hospital website and get the address or contact details for the Medical Records Officer. I wrote to mine and they sent a consent form I needed to fill in and get counter signed by someone saying I was who I said I was. Some do charge though but I guess this covers photocopying and sending it out (mine are being sent via UPS).

legallyblond that's a really positive story and def helps me feel better about everything, here's hoping that'll be me next time!!

okiecokie thanks for that info, i din't realise it was so easy. I think i'll look into it once i conceive again. It'll be nice to understand what happened last time and have some info other than what my dp tells me!!

good luck everyone for next time and make sure you update with full details of your next labour and birth!!

i defo will do. im early still but soo scared, yes im gonna try get hold of my notes and speak to a consultant because last time they couldnt even explain why it happend.

Hi ladies,

I don't know if this helps but i had (what i thought was horrid 3rd stage) but after reading these stories it is nothing at all.

My placenta got stuck and they tugged and snapped abit of the cord, then realised they hadn't goven me the injection to exspell the placenta, luckily then it came out.

I was worried about a few other thing's that happend so i spoke to my midwife who gave me a leaflet of an organisation that you call then you can go see someone who has your notes and talks you through everything that happend in your labour.

My friend when and she said it was brilliant.