Anyone experienced a retained placenta?

[2beautifulgirls]

I have 2 gorgeous girls who were both natural delivery apart from retained placentas with both which involved having a spinal block and going into thearte after each birth. Before this happened after my dd1 i had no idea that placentas got retained!!!! So was a complete shock to me when it did happen.
I was told the chances of having a second were increased slightly due to the first so i was kind of expecting it. However because of this i was not allowed on the GPU midwfe led unit to give birth and had to give birth in the Consultant unit where they wanted to keep me hooked up to monitoring etc???? I refused as i like to be very active during labour and lying down for any amount of time was just not gonna happen.... There were no risks with my pregnancy just my deliver of placenta.
Anyway we are thinking about baby number 3 and i'm thinking it is probably likely to happen again. But would like others experiences of them having a retained placenta and if they went on to have a normal placental delivery subsequent... Is they anyting anyone can recommend to help with delivery of placenta. I was given the injection, breastfed, given a drip etc.

I had a retained placenta the first time (I have a bicorneate uterus which i think makes it more likely) but was fine the next two times. My sister also has BU and she had retained placenta with both children. Not sure what the statistics are on having another after it being retained twice - you have to suspect its more likely but I didnt think it affected the monitoring before having the baby...

I had a retained placenta last time - but no one really told me why it happened I had had an epidural so I did not need to go to theatre - they manually remved it in the delivery room (yuk!!)

I am desperatly trying to get hold of more info about it too but not having much luck.

i am pregnant with my second and want to know if I can do anything to avoid it happening again.

I had a retained placenta forst time BUT I had twins at 27 wks. Having a twin placenta can make it more likely (as it is bigger) and giving birth prem makes it more likely (cos the placenta is still happily doing its job). I was like you wheeled into theatre for a sinal block.

I was fine with DD3 and I was allowed on MWL unit - but only cos there were v good reasons for my first retained placenta IYSWIM. AND the MWL unit was sandwiched between the consultant led unit and the operating theatres should an emergency arise.

I did opt NOT to have hte syntometrine jab with DD3 as I have heard that can increase the risk of a retained placenta.

I would suggest not having syntometrine. If at any stage you start to bleed it can be given then, but you are more likely to have a retained placenta with an actively managed third stage. Trouble is doctors and many hospital midwives are not generally happy with physiological third stages (ie without syntometrine injection) at the best of times.

I would recommend using syntocinon instead of syntometrine as it works slower at closing the cervix and I hardly ever have a retained placenta using this.

Also, absolutely no reason at all for continuous monitoring in labour for a prev retained placenta. It makes no difference to your babys wellbeing whether your placenta comes out after or not.

thanks everyone for the advice, i have taken notes on everything to refer to when needed.

I had a retained placenta, At my checkup with my GP i asked what were the chances of it happening with subsequent pregnancies. apparantly a retained placenta only occurs in 2% of pregnancies and the chances of it reoccuring in those 2% of cases is very minimal, i too wanted to have my second child if im lucky enough to concieve one at a midwife lead unit and was told by my GP that it should be no problem as the chances of it happening again were so slim.
The removal of my placenta after was worse than giving birth..... the Dr litrally put his hand up me and tried to pull it out before reolising i hadnt had a epidural i was hysterical!!!! it hurt so much so they then took me to theatre. i was disapointed because i birthed my DD on gas and air and i was really proud of myself and felt fantastic afterwards unill the Dr did what he did!!! i hope it doesnt happen again.

Message withdrawn

I had a retained placenta after my second child's birth and was told later it is quite common after a section.