C Section after retained placenta?

[lumpasmelly]

I'm pregnant with DC3 and due in April. DS1 was a normal delivery (if you include back to back labour, vontouse and episiotomy "normal"), and DS2 was relatively easy normal labour, followed by horrendous experience with ratained placenta. Basically ended up in theatre with spinal block and doctors rumaging around inside of me pulling it out (NOT pleasant)...this resulted in blood loss and anemia (7.2 hemoglobin)....THEN it turns out that they didn't get it all and I needed a D&C to remove the rest 3 months following the birth. So all in all, quite a horrible experience and a very long recovery from the anemia as I had refused a blood transfusion. After this experience, there was some talk of it being a case of mild "placenta accreta" but my medical notes are a bit conflicting and the consultant who did the D&C disagrees with the hospital (ie. he says it was accreta and they day it wasn't) so all very confusing....so to cut a long story short, I'm now pregnant with DC3 and trying to decide what is best in terms of the delivery. Having done 2 "natural" deliveries before, I'm not afraid to do it again, but at the same time, I'm petrified of going through the same experience again, and not being able to concentrate on the labour as I'll be worrying about what's going to happen with the placenta. The consultant who did the D&C had filled myhead with stories of mass bleeding and hysterectomy and being sure to have an expert team on hand to deal with the potential consequences, and even though the consultant I am now seeing says this is a load of rubbish, I can't get it out of my head. I know a c-section is a longer recovery time, but to tell the truth, after DS1 it took 2 months to actually sit down again, and I think I was suffering Post Traumatic Stress from the shock and pain of the birth, and then after DS2 I was in bed for 2 months recovering from the anemia, so it's not like I have every had a nice recovery!! Plus, IF something were to go wrong (as the "doom and gloom" consultant predicts) i would be all set up to get it sorted out asap...whereas with a normal delivery, you really are taking pot luck in terms of who's around to sort out the emergency.....What would everyone else do?

I had the retained placenta / manual removal / anaemia thing (although fortunately not the D&C) - although I'm not planning to have another child for various genetic reasons I'd definitely "take the risk" rather than go for the caesarian option. But that's just me - I think it's really a very personal choice. Although the whole placenta experience was a bit of a disaster, at least I knew DS was safe, if that makes sense.

Mmm - part of me wants to take the risk, but then the other half of me doesn't want to take any chances with the possibility of leaving DH behind with 3 DCs to look after!!!...honestly, if that consultant hadn't told me such horror stories I probably wouldn't have thought twice about taking the risk....

had similar expereince, with piece of placenta retained, but also have a problem where my uterus does not contract down properly. Have been referred to a consultant with this pg (24 weeks) and they have said i will be very closely monitored following birth this time. they will make sure IV access available in early labour, and drips bloods etc on standby. I have been reassured by this. My view is it cant be any worse than last time!