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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Retained Plecenta

17 replies

Tashafaye123 · 26/06/2015 17:32

Hi,
I now have a healthy 13 week old boy however the labour is playing in the back of my mind constantly although not planning number 2 yet I still am thinking about it. I had normal labour with just gas and air everything was fine until the midwife realised that my Plecenta was stuck and was stuck so hard I needed manual removal, I was literally rushed to theatre within 10 minutes of giving birth and the spinal block was attempted but didn't work and then I was given general anaesthetic for the procedure. I woke up to find out I had lost 2.8 litres of blood as I was hemmoraging due to the Plecenta (no tears) the midwife telling me I was lucky to be alive. In the end I had 2 blood transfusions and stayed on the high dependency ward for 2 days until later moved to the maternity ward.

Is there anyway you can prevent this from happening again or alternatively if I do have number 2 can you elect for a c section as I'm petrified this will happen again?

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coneywonder · 26/06/2015 19:55

I don't have any experience of this and I'm sure someone will come and answer with some experience but I'm pretty sure you can opt for a c section if your first experience was that bad. I know my friend had a pretty bad first labour that wasn't as bad as what your describing and she asked for a section and got it with her second.

I would say though that it might be hndy speaking to someone about this. YOur not trying or pregnant with your 2nd yet so you owe it to yourself to try and get over the bad experience and kinda cross the 2nd child bridge when you get to it.

I don't know if retained placenta happens more than once but if it does I'm sure a section will be offered to keep you and baby safe

whatsagoodusername · 26/06/2015 20:04

I had a retained placenta for DC2 - sounds similar to what you had, apart from the general anaesthetic. Lost about 3 pints of blood, 3 transfusions.

My totally unresearched understanding is that there's no way of predicting it and that it's not any more likely to happen a second time. But while you are fine to have more DC, they'll probably class you as a higher risk than they would have done otherwise.

Again, this is completely unresearched, and I might be wrong. But I've certainly been under the impression I would be fine to have more DC if I wanted.

DorothyGherkins · 26/06/2015 20:09

My firstborn experience sounded exactly similar to your, blood loss, tranfusions etc Second birth was dead normal, no complications. I think its just One of Those Things and not particularly likely to happen a second time. Enjoy your tiny boy xx

ApplesTheHare · 26/06/2015 20:22

My experience sounds identical to whatsagood and the doctors said that I'd be classed as high-risk for any future dcs but it is just something that happens pretty randomly, so wouldn't necessarily happen again. If I decide to have another dc I would request a c section. I'm now nearly 10 months in and don't think about it so much. A few months in I still felt pretty bad so hopefully you'll think about it less as you get back to feeling like yourself

bakingtins · 26/06/2015 22:07

I had a similar experience with DC2. Was classed as high risk and consultant led for DC3. When I looked into it if you have one PPH you are at 3x the risk in a future pregnancy, but background risk is only 5-8%. I actually felt ok about odds of 15-25% of recurrence, I'd had the impression it was almost certain to recur. AFAIK Csection also increases your risk, so wouldn't necessarily be a good idea but something to discuss in your individual case. The plan with me was they monitored my iron levels and made sure they were good before the birth, I was to go in PDQ as I also had precipitate labour, they would put in a cannula and have cross matched blood on standby, and I had managed third stage. In the event I had an 80min labour but still got to hospital in plenty of time, they didn't get the cannula in though - I'd had DD before they found a doctor to put one in. Placenta came out beautifully, v minimal bleeding.

If you want to talk it through with someone before considering TTC ask for the hospital Birth Reflections service. I wish I had done this, it was a very traumatic experience and I didn't really process it, I was lucky to get a consultant who took the time to go through it all with me in my next pregnancy, but would have felt better if I had done that much earlier (4 yrs between the two births)

Original poster

Tashafaye123 · 29/06/2015 19:24

Thank you all for your responses hopefully in time the trauma will pass. And I will look into speaking to someone before number 2 x

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chickenfuckingpox · 29/06/2015 19:34

ive had two -- out of my three pregnancies two of the placentas stayed in apparently there is a correlation with the synthetic hormone drip and a retained placenta which is true for me as those were the deliveries i had the drip!

dd was the first i had the drip for the last few pushes and had to have a removal that was not "too bad" number three however was a nightmare i was rattled around the bed massively i was so out of it in the operation i thought the students were shaking the bed! i was badly bruised and a small amount was left in which passed naturally a few weeks later it is a shock to your system when it happens but there are precautions that can be put in place to ensure it doesn't happen you can opt for the injection to assist the placenta coming away you can ask for no synthetic hormone and you can find out if you tick the boxes for any other risk factors (which i dont know of because i only know my own)

my point is i had one with my first and still went on to have other children it will get better xxx

Lezprechaun · 29/06/2015 19:55

Sounds traumatic. Definately worth speaking to someone about the chance of reoccurance as I know retained placenta can happen during c-section also.

SchroSawMargeryDaw · 29/06/2015 20:14

I had a retained placenta with my second (5 weeks prem) and had it removed under GA, I also lost over 2 litres of blood and woke to find I had had transfusions. I went straight to a normal post natal ward though but was really pretty ill.

This didn't happen with my first (that had it's own challenges) and I was told by my community MW after DS2 (he was meant to be a homebirth) that having a small baby can put you at higher risk of retaining.

Original poster

Tashafaye123 · 01/07/2015 11:30

Thank you. He was fairly small 6lbs and was 2 weeks early someone did mention to me it possibly happened because the placenta is designed to stay for the full 40 weeks and obviously he was early so could be the cause. I guess I'll speak to someone and get some advice. I didn't have any hormone drip surprisingly with my first I went into labour naturally 2 weeks early xx

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ApplesTheHare · 01/07/2015 20:03

Tasha funnily enough my retained placenta followed delivery of 5lb13oz DD at 38 weeks so maybe there's something in that. I really hope time turns out to be a healer for you. 10 months on labour seems like it was a long time ago, and I don't think about the 'after' so much

YouCantBeSadHoldingACupcake · 01/07/2015 20:14

I had a retained placenta with dc4 (3 days late and 8lb). With dc5 and 6 I was told there was a slight increased risk of it happening again so had to give birth in hospital but it didn't happen again

schokolade · 01/07/2015 20:22

I have a similar experience... DD born on her due date, very quickly, retained placenta with mass bleeding and transfusions. DD is 18 months old now. I don't think about the birth much, but when I do I still break out in a sweat. I would love a second but am very scared.

I've seen a specialist who said that some women with PPH have von Willebrand's disease - a blood clotting disorder that doesn't usually present problems in every day life, but can cause heavy bleeding during birth, operations etc. Apparently this is one of the reasons why if you have one PPH you are at higher risk of a second one (i.e. there's a proportion of PPH cases with an underlying cause). Perhaps have a look at the list of symptoms on wikipedia. If you think it could apply to you, it might be worth getting tested. Then the hospital can be prepared at your next labour.

Original poster

Tashafaye123 · 07/07/2015 18:47

Hi woundering if anybody has any thoughts on the below?

My 15 weeks old son has had diarrhoea on and off now for 3 weeks. He has his jabs last Monday and also dribbling a lot and biting his hands so think he may be in a teething period. I spoke to the health visitor on Friday and she seemed to think it was nothing to worry about but if it hadn't cleared by Monday call the doctors called the doctors and again seemed to think nothing to worry about but booked an appointment for a weeks time of it hasn't cleared up.
He has no temp, 5-6 wet nappies a day, still drinking milk however he has really bad wind followed by explosive number 2's

Does anyone have any ideas to help him or what may be the cause? Xx

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ApplesTheHare · 07/07/2015 21:33

Is he bf or ff? We found that dd had runny and explosive poo for the first 4 months or so, but things have settled down for her now she's older, and also on food and switched to ff from bf.

Original poster

Tashafaye123 · 08/07/2015 15:55

He's ff last night I noticed his back tooth has cut through so that may be the cause

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Hockneypool · 08/07/2015 16:14

I had a retained placenta with DC1. She was 10 days late but only 5lbs 10. But I did have a drip to speed things up. I was lucky that I had an epidural so it was just topped up in surgery. No extra blood loss but still traumatic staying awake while it was removed. A scarey ending to a long labour.

No problems with DC2 text book straight forward second birth.

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