Placenta piece of blood clot??

[Sarah Faith]

So I had my wonderful UC yesterday (DS2 was born at 6:12AM) I will post a story later, but for now I had a question. I got out of the water to deliver the placenta and as soon as I lay on the bed it plopped out...mostly, there was a long piice that went up inside. We all knew not to do any pulling, so we tried to get baby to nurse, he was having trouble so I stimulated the other side with an electric breast pump. I was reaching in to see if I could feel what it was attached to and trying to push a bit. One of the times that I reached in it came undone. We then cut the cord (this was at least 30 min after birth). DH examined the placenta and said it seemed to be intact.

My uterus was hard and I am having tons of after birth pains, so so bad. Last night when I went to the bathroom a big chuck came out. I didn't know how to tell if it was possibly a piece of placenta or just a clot. I never passed large clots last time and this was like 3" long (though not round). I thought with the minor difficulty that there was in getting the placenta out that it might have been a piece of placenta.

Is there a way to know?

ETA: does it matter? If it was placenta should I assume there is more? I have no other signs of retained placenta (no fever, my uterus is very hard)

[Earth Momma]

I'm not sure how to tell but I'll share my experience... our baby is 2 wks old. After I delivered the placenta (which took an hour) I went to shower and a long (like 10 inches) piece of something came out (thin like part of the sac) so I told DH and we decided to just 'monitor' things.....my after pains were the worst EVER (like I'd rather give birth again) the next day I started having after pains every 10 min for 6-7 hours. Finally I passed a huge 'clot' like yours 3" or so. After that no more after pains, no fever or signs of infection. I just thought that my body was working hard to get rid of that clot!

How do you feel? dizzy, faint, hows your bleeding, any fever, etc?? trust your body and your instincts - if something doesn't feel right - thats when the docs come in.

and congrats on your new baby!!!

[Serenyd]

I don't have any advice, but CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[CageFreeFamily]

I had a midwife for my last birth, and I recall her telling me that clots can be several inches. I seem to recall passing a noticeably large clot, though I don't really remember how large. The MW told me to simply monitor bleeding to make sure that it's not increasing to a level of concern and to limit myself to doing the stairs only once per day for a few days.

HTH

[gentlestrengths]

Well, you don't really WANT any retained pieces. It can cause infection. Your cervix can close up, and then you'll have a problem. But it sounds like you passed it. You really don't want anything retained, placenta, or sac pieces. You want it all out. But usually your body does a good job on it's own to get rid of everything properly.

FWIW - it isn't HORRIBLE to pull on the cord. I think a PP said her placenta didn't deliver until an hour. It isn't likely that her placenta was still attached. Sometimes it gets hung up, and gentle cord traction is no big deal - if you know what you're doing. It is better than it not coming out. And it is better than it masking a heavy bleed by covering the cervix so you can't tell how much blood loss is going on.

Do you think your DH is reliable enough to know what the placenta would look like if it were missing a piece? You have to sort of fold it up and look at how it all fit together inside of you... you know? I think it sounds like you passed everything. You should monitor your temperature still, and if you have any aches and pains or fever, definitely get it checked out. =)
Good job mamma! =)

[gossamerwindweb]

I had a humongous blood clot the night of my UC. My placenta was definitely intact (I inspected it myself) and the clot shocked me because I sat down in my computer chair and felt it slide out of me. After that, my bleeding slowed considerably and my afterpains got much better. It sounds a lot like your experience. BTW, CONGRATS on your UC!

[Sarah Faith]

Thanks for your help guys. I realized it was just a blood clot. My bleeding slowed significantly after I passed it. I was just so surprised because with my last birth I never passed anything larger than a quarter. I also think that when I thought the placenta hadn't fully come out I think it was actually the membranes that were still stuck in there and not any part of the actual placenta.

I'm fairly certain I had no major tearing, but I definitely have some skid marks. Though my whole vulva area feels much better at this point than last time around when I had stitches. I actually see my midwife on Thursday for a followup (she was quite surprised that I had the baby-hopefully not too upset though).