Is it possible to deliver your placenta before the baby!!?

[minko]

This is what happened to my mother in law apparently. But she talks a lot of rubbish a lot of the time and I just want to know if this is true/possible!

I wouldn't have thought so as the placenta is the baby's lifeline, i could be wrong though

Found this on a health site

Placenta Previa — A condition in which the placenta partially or completely covers the cervix. The degree of severity determines whether or not a cesarean birth is indicated. If the cervix is completely covered, a cesarean is mandatory since the placenta would deliver first in a vaginal delivery and the baby would lose his/her oxygen supply.

i don't think that's possible as normally if the placenta is covering the cervix the woman has a c-section due to the risk of bleeding out.

But i could be wrong.

But pre scans would they be able to detect the position of the placenta? Hence I guess it could be possible.

There is the condition 'Placenta Abruptio' where the placenta detaches before the baby is born. I think it's generally pretty life-threatening for all concerned though. Occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies.

With placenta praevia, surely historically you would either have started bleeding early on (as happened with my mother's cousin) and then go on to have a Caesarean or you died. Just because it's blocking the exit, doesn't mean it's going to detach early...? (Because there won't be a hormonal trigger to do so)

Could there not be a physical cause for the placenta to come away(ie the movement of the baby during labour)?

sounds mighty unlikely to me. What happened to the baby?

The baby, my DP, was born a month early and was supposedly given odds against surviving. No mention of blood loss or anything though, and she was up and smiling for father in law when he turned up to see the baby. DP is now a strapping 6'3" with no lasting damage. I have a feeling it is just mother-in-law trying to win the 'my labour was the worst' competition. And it was a long time ago and I think the story may have 'evolved' over time...

Found these references:
www.unhinderedliving.com/previa.html

Wouldn't fancy it myself though.

probably possible in very rare cases - but I think it very unlikely the baby would survive, at least without brain damage. And I guess the mother might be a great risk of blood loss.

that is a fascinating site, juule.

can't say I'd fancy tearing a hole in my own placenta though .

How the hell are you supposed to reach up there?

this happened to a friend/neighbour of mine 25yrs ago when doctors hadn't realised it was twins, her dd was born followed by a placenta then another placenta, she was told to stay calm as they thought she still had a nother baby in there who had become detached from placenta, her ds followed shortly afterwards, she had to send her dh to baby shop to return the pram for a twin, she did however have a very bad post partum bleed (sp?)

CarolinaMooncup - I have no idea how you would get up there but it would appear that it can be done by some
Have to say I have found some of the unassisted birth sites amazing/inspiring and while I wouldn't entertain some of the things myself they made me much more confident about my own labours and births.

Juuule, I'm sorry but that woman is barking! I'm all for homebirth and would have loved to have had one myself if circumstances had been different but I had placenta praevia on my last baby and had an emergency CS at 32 weeks. There is no way anyone should try to deliver at home with pp. In my case there was a massive amount of blood. The first time I thought my waters had broken, and there was a sensation like water being poured from a bottle, that glug-glug-glug, sorry if tmi! After that there was a constant drip but I got two more "big bleeds" before my CS. Afterwards I was like a ghost and my obstretician told dh my life had been at risk. Whatever the mortality rates in US hospitals, I'd guess the mortality rates surrounding delivering a praevia baby at home would be atrociosly high.

It happened to my mum with my sister.It was in 1970,before scans & no one knew there was a problem until the placenta came out,followed by my little sister.

My sister is 36 now & absolutely fine.

My sister was born a month early too & my mum bled for the first 4 months & didn't realise that she was actually pregnant until then.

chipmonkey - I have to admit that it's not something I would consider. Especially as the doctor at the ANC told me that for full placenta praevia it was advisable to be in hospital for the last month as if you did go into labour, as your cervix dilated the placenta would tear and as major blood vessels were involved you could bleed to death in less time than you could dial 999. That was enough for me. Fortunately my placenta on that pregnancy moved upwards and out of the way (had a worrying bleed early on while it did it, though)