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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Syntocinon/Syntometrine injection to expel placenta - yes or no?

26 replies

CallieNewYear · 03/01/2007 18:59

What have people's experiences been with this drug? I'm undecided about whether to have it or not, although I kind of think I'll wait until I've actually given birth and see how exhausted I am (feel free to laugh knowingly if you've done this before) by that stage. The MW says if you are very tired it saves your body a lot more effort.

Thanks for any suggestions.

OP posts:

Dinosaur · 03/01/2007 19:02

Callie, this is only based on my own experience and is therefore neither scientific nor unbiased, but anyway...

I had the injection after DS1 was born but had real problems delivering placenta, although managed it in the end. Had injection again after DS2 - this time placenta got well and truly stuck, and I had to go to theatre for manual removal of placenta - not the end of the world, but not pleasant either.

Third time around I said, no injection thank you, and the placenta was delivered really quickly and easily in about 10 minutes. I did bleed a lot more than with the previous two deliveries but not enough for it to be dangerous.

TheBlonde · 03/01/2007 19:04

I had it with DS as was tired from long labour
In hindsight I think it made me feel faint/ill etc so I will be declining it this time

shonaspurtle · 03/01/2007 19:04

I had the injection. Placenta delivered no problems and tbh I can hardly remember it.

2boysmacca · 03/01/2007 19:07

Had the injection both times and it was fine. Both were rapid labours and placenta delivered within minutes of giving birth

PoppiesMum · 03/01/2007 19:12

Had it with dd - can hardly remember delivering placenta, but it all happened quickly after the injection (too busy cuddling dd )

mummytosteven · 03/01/2007 19:13

I had it with DS, placenta delivered one contraction later, probably wasn't even 5 minutes later.

hana · 03/01/2007 19:14

have had it 3 times with no probs
placenta seemed to slide out (eee) with a bit of a tug/help from the midwife

WeaselMum · 03/01/2007 19:19

I had the injection but the placenta took ages to come

after a while the mw insisted I needed to empty my bladder to help things along and tried to put in a catheter - it was so painful I made her stop and I went to sit on the loo - felt an urge to push - and out it plopped into the loo.....

mw had gone out of the room at that moment -she and dp came back in to see me standing over the loo (still naked and bloody) holding it up by the cord, saying "er...it just came out"

skerriesmum · 03/01/2007 19:32

My friend told me it had made her ill, so I requested not to have the injection and placenta came out fine anyway...

DimpledThighs · 03/01/2007 19:57

had injection with both of mine and placenta came out no problem.

I think it works by clsoing the blood vessels that attach it to the uterus causing you to expel it quicker as it comes away better. Also less likely to retain anything with injection so no horrid apres birth ops.

DaisyMOO · 03/01/2007 20:13

There's a good page on the homebirth website about the pros and cons of a manged or physiological third stage. If you click on Contents and scroll down there's a link to it somewhere near the bottom of the page.

Basically, syntometrine is a combination of syntocinon, which causes the uterus to contract strongly and ergometrine which causes the cervix to contract. For this reason there is some suggestion that you are more likely to have a retained placenta because if there is any delay with the placenta being delivered. The ergometrine can also have nasty side effects such as sickness and dizziness and should not be given if there is any concern over high blood pressure.

Syntocinon has fewer side effects, but most units use syntometrine routinely and so it may not be available.

As you've said, you don't have to make a decision now and wait and see how you feel at the time. I have absolutely no idea what happened with my first as I was so out of it but it was definitely managed with one or other drug. The last baby I had a PTS and I'm glad I did, there was no rush to get on with delivering the placenta, it just came out in its own time after I'd had a cuddle, got out of the pool etc.

belgo · 03/01/2007 20:20

I had synrocin for my first birth with no problems, and as my second was a homebirth, I opted not to have it. The placenta was delivered very quickly, but in the following hours I bled very heavily, and was given the synctocin to help reduce the bleeding. I felt very weak for three months due to that blood loss. So my limited experience means that I will opt for the injection next time round.

FlamesparrowThePirate · 03/01/2007 20:20

I had it with DD... I was very ill after her birth and it might have been due to the injection, but it might have been due to the 4 week overdue placenta - don't know.

I was unsure the second time (because of this) - I was having a homebirth and didn't want to risk being ill again, but DH was worried that if I didn't have it, then I could be ill for different reasons.... I agreed to have it in the end (since he was going along with the hb despite oodles of fear) - and my placenta fell before they got the injection sorted

Dunno if that helps at all...

divastrop · 03/01/2007 20:31

i had the syntocinon with my last 2 due to high bp as mentioned earlier.i was given the syntometrin with my first(that hospital thankfully has now been pulled down,but i cant remember them doing anything right)and the placenta just fell out (sorry tmi).cant remember if i had any side effects cos i was still hallucinating off the diamorphine

the syntocinon caused me no problems,but it doesnt work as effectively,i had to actually 'push' the placenta out,and the mw had to give a little tug to help it.

i never really thought about it before,i was told at my ante-natal classes (9 years ago)that the 3rd stage lasts 45minutes or more if u dont have the injection...think i also need to read up on this subject!

redtent · 03/01/2007 20:32

I had it both times b/c I was worried about blood loss and retained placental issues.

However NOW IK this time I won't have it.

and re bloodloss it has been suggested that with the injection there is less bloodloss at the time but more over the postpartum bleed. Without the injection you beed heavily at the time of placental delivery but less over the postpartum stage- might not be an acurate scientific suggestion but I wm willing to go with that this time around!!

Beauregard · 03/01/2007 20:37

I had the injection when i had dd1 and the placenta sort of just fell out lol.
When i had dd2 because the midwifes didn't get to me until after the birth as it was so fast, they suggested that i delivered the placenta naturally ,which was a bit like delivering another baby to be honest ,just slippier! harder work than the injection.

sallystrawberry · 03/01/2007 20:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cheritongirl · 03/01/2007 21:10

i had a homebirth and said that i didn't want it unless absolutely necessary - in the end it did take a while to deliver the placenta (without the injection) but it really helped being in an upright position. But then i bled lots (3 times more than i should have done according to mw) so the mw sensibly gave it to me to stem bleeding and i have to say i don't think it had any bad effects on me. Next time i would say the same thing. Good luck!

WeaselMum · 03/01/2007 21:16

sorry to hear that sallystrawberry

Quootiepie · 03/01/2007 21:27

I didnt have a choice, I was bleeding so much they just did it. I heard of one woman waiting around for an hour or so because she didnt want the injection... I think ill have it next time aswell.

LunarSea · 04/01/2007 09:49

Had the injection last time, and it made me throw up, when I'd gone through the whole pg with no m/s. Hoping to avoid that this time around.

Khara · 04/01/2007 13:11

I had the injection with ds (hospital birth, ventouse delivery) and delivered placenta within 10 mins. I also had it with ds2 (homebirth), and placenta took over 1 hour to arrive. Luckily, I had a very patient and capable midwife who could see I wasn't bleeding to death and so left it as late as possible, although she was picking up the phone to call an ambulance when the placenta finally decided to put in an appearance. I have to say that the labour pains for the placenta were far worse than for ds2 - up until then it had been an easy labour.

I reasoned that I'd had such difficulties as the syntometrine had contracted my womb too quickly and my placenta got stuck. So with dd (also homebirth) I decided against it. The placenta was a little tardy again - about 15 - 20 minutes, and unfortunately didn't come away cleanly (as it hadn't with ds2 either) and the midwife had to fiddle about a bit to get the straggly bits out (sorry if tmi!) Not a very pleasant experience but better than hospital and surgery anyway. I think that I obviously have a problem delivering placentas whole, as they seem to be a bit ragged (not sure why as neither ds2 or dd were overdue), and that the syntometrine makes no difference to this.

I've gone into the gory details of my experiences just to outline that it's never that straightforward, and I can't say that everything went swimmingly when I didn't have the jab. However I do believe that when I had it with ds2 I was in very real danger of a retained placenta, whereas without it I delivered the placenta much more quickly, and with much less pain.

I think (and I did research this before dd) that if you have as natural a labour as possible, with minimal intervention, then there is no need for the jab, and it could even cause problems. However, the more intervention you have, the more it is likely that your body won't respond how it's meant to and find it difficult to complete the third stage without help. I said on my birth plan for dd that I didn't want the jab, but obviously if there was a problem and the midwife thought I was losing too much blood, then the midwife shouldn't hesitate to give it.

Original poster

CallieNewYear · 04/01/2007 19:19

Thanks for the replies. My instinct is to avoid drugs where possible - we are designed to get rid of these things after all. Guess I'll see how it goes on the day.

OP posts:

StrawberrySnowflakes · 04/01/2007 19:21

i had this to induce me with dd as my waters had already broken so the pessary type wouldnt work, it was the msot intense thing i have ever experienced!!!!!!!!!, plus side labour although induced lasted only 5 hours and placenta came away looking gorgeous

StrawberrySnowflakes · 04/01/2007 19:23

just read your last post.
also said no drugs in my birth plan..it didnt happen..i was laid on bed, drip in hand and inhaling entinox before i screamed for pethadine(i def didnt want pethadine!!)..you may be lucky and have a higher pain threshold than me though?

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