Is this a normal way to deliver the placenta?

[babyonboard]

dd was born after a 30 minute pushing stage. the labour was straightforward and i managed with gas and air.
immediatly afterwards i was injected without being asked (too busy being overwhelmed by the little mite!) and the midwife yanked hard on the cord, which then broke off inside me.
i was given two hours for the placenta to be expelled, but it didn't happen so i ended up with a spinal block in theatre, which meant leaving the baby for an hour and a half, which was really hard to do!
i am wondering if it is normal for them to pull so hard and if this could have led to me failing to deliver it naturally
has anyone had a similar experience or any advice?

first of all you should have been informed of what they were doing IMO.
I think midwives sometimes 'forget' to actually tell the patient as they've done it so many times before, they forget we haven't.
(Though i have to admit i got lovely ones- first was an Angel!)
I have had 2 babies and i can't remember them pulling it hard!
Sorry i can't be more constructive but i'm glad it all worked out o.k in the end. It does sound like the midwife was far too hurried!!

I had problems delivering the placenta, was injected straight after labour, after a lot of tugging it cane out but not in one piece resaulting in a bad infection a few weeks after.

Congratulations on your dd.

Sounds like you had a medical 3rd stage - an injection to separate the placenta and cord traction to pull it out. It's routine in hospital deliveries unless you specify you want a physiological 3rd stage (where the placenta is left to come away itself). The midwife may have pulled too hard or too early but sometimes the cord attatches to the placenta it a way that it just pulls off even with a gentle pull.

Hope that makes sense?

Had you discussed having the injection with anyone before or did they just assume you'd want it? I definitely didn't want it last time and don't this time - it's on my birth plan and I will see it as assault if I'm given it without being told I need it and why.

I'm sure they are supposed to only give it with consent, aren't they?

I had detailed instructions on my birth plan about the ONLY circumstances under which I'd have the injection and whether it would be syntocinon alone or syntometrine (poor midwives!).

sorry...ds not dd! hehe..baby brain!
thanks for you replies..
to be honest no one even looked at my birthplan and i was too overwhelmed to complain..i.e i wanted to stand up to push but the midwife practically held me down on my back..also had me on monitors for three hours with no reason which was horrid alongside the contractions!
they were very busy, i was moved into a theatre recovery room about 1/2 hour after he was born as they had people waiting to use our delivery room , so the midwife could have been at fault in pulling too hard.
i'm quite annoyed to be honest , as their overall procedure and attitude tarnished an otherwise straightforward and easy birth, but hey who can be cross with a new baby to gaze at all day!

i thought they should't tug on placenta ever.
Might cause high blood loss unless placenta has already started to peel away naturally.
Yurk.
I declined that damn jab for 2nd & 3rd baby, horrible risky thing.

I always wondered about the pulling on the placenta...when i had my dd they pulled so hard the pain was worse than pushing the baby out i thought that would be wrong to do that, i.e the placenta should be "eased" out, not yanked!

I opted for the injection too, which apparently is supposed to help the placenta seperate isn't it?

I had a physiological third stage with ds and my placenta wouldn't budge - I had to be transferred to the city hospital two hours away in order for the midwives there to pull on the cord - the midwives at my cottage hospital do not pull on the cord because of the risk of what happened to you. (It came away fine in the end but I was glad not to be put at risk)

at them not reading your birth plan or listening to you when you wanted to move around - sounds like pretty poor practice all round if you ask me!

i agree at poor practice comment! she also kept yelling at me to hold my legs back while i was pushing when i really wanted to squeexe dp as hard as i could.
it does seem odd to pull at it 5 minutes after the baby comes out..they didnt evengive it time to be delivered naturally.
maybe chose a different hospital if and when i have another baby!..or even stay at home!

Doesn't sound the best experience, babyonboard. A friend had a home birth and physiological 3rd stage, it sounded great especially as it wasn't an easy labour and it would probably have been fairly medicalised if she'd been in hospital. Home birth's the way to go if you really want to feel in control I reckon!

that sounds like appaling practice all round, and that bloody midwife should be struck off IMO!

behaviour like that gives a bad name to other wonderful midwives. god, what a cow.

still, you are wonderfully right to say its hard to be angry when you have gorgeous new healthy baby to gaze at... good for you, not carrying needless anger around, who needs the baggage?

if you can be bothered, you should write a letter to the hospital to complain of your treatment, lack of respect for you, your wishes, your well-being... just to feel that youve said your part in hope that practice there improves for others.

and go for a homebirth next time medical stuff permitting and all that.

I had the injection last time and had trouble delivering the placenta, was quite traumatic as I had had a straightforward labour. MW tried various things inserting a catheter to drain my bladder, getting me up and hovering over a bed pan with cord and clamps dangling to see if gravity would have an effect. Eventually she said she would give it one last go either that or it would be a manual extraction under spinal block. This really upset me since I only had gas and air for the labour. Mears a very nice MW on here said that with the injection they have an hour to get the placenta out before the cervix clamps shut thats why the MW was panicking.

Between all the kerfuffle over the placenta and the time it took them how to decide to stitch me up afterwards I lost about 2 1/2 hours with DD which I regret.

I'm about to do it all again (have a baby) am opting not to have the injection this time and allow the placenta to delivery naturally. MWs not that keen think they don't get many people opting not to have it, they keep going on about post partum haemorrhage!

im no expert, but how did women manage to deliver placenta's before they came up with the genius idea of giving an injection which means they have a limited time to get it out??

i had 2 natural 3rd stage deliveries (i was upright for both and delivered them about 5 -10 minutes after the births, still in the pool and just b4 i got out.) and they were no fuss at all. and my uterus closed down just fine all by itself, helped by the NATURAL hormones released by my own body when the babies started breastfeeding.

now, i realise not everyone is so lucky to have such straightforward deliveries, but why on earth the majority of 'low risk' births arent experienced in much this way, is beyond me!